As France seeks peace with Algeria, Russia tips Algiers to turn up the pressure

Algeria and France, two countries which at one point shared a budding relationship, have since the year began, been at odds with each other. Currently, Russia weighed in, urging Algeria to heap more pressure on France.

• Algeria and France are currently at odds with each other.
• Russia has sided with Algeria in seeking reparations from France for its colonial legacy.
• Algeria accused French intelligence services of coordinating ‘destabilizing activities’ in the country.

Russia recently rendered its support to Algeria, agreeing that the North African country deserves reparation from its former colonizer.

As stated by the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, Russia agrees with Algeria’s endeavors to get compensated for the past, while holding the European country accountable for its actions, as reported by Sputnik.

“France can no longer suppress the independence and sovereignty of peoples,” the Russian official told a media briefing.

The colonial legacy of Paris is a historical fact, and its crimes “are still painful to many peoples” of the world, she emphasized.

Her statement is coming a few days after France and Algeria decided to restate cooperation in all sectors.

Prior to the decision, French officials and the Algerian president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, engaged in a high-level negotiation for a whole day, to revive dialogue and restore confidence between both countries.

“We go back to normal, and to repeat the words of President Tebboune: ‘the curtain is lifted’,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, stated.

Broken relationship between France and Algeria

France, in July, 2024, sided with Morocco, against Algeria on the matter of its sovereignty over the small Western Sahara country.

This as expected did not bode well with the Algerian side, as they immediately moved to take action against France.

Months later, in August of the same year, Algeria withdrew its ambassador from France, following Paris’s decison to support Morocco’s limited autonomy over Western Sahara under its supervision.

By December, 2024, Algeria accused French intelligence services of coordinating “destabilizing activities” within its borders.

To highlight the severity of the allegations, the Algerian foreign ministry summoned Stephane Romatet, the French ambassador to Algeria.

In the same month, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune spoke firmly against the long-term impacts of France’s colonial rule.

Subsequently, pro-regime Algerian influencers were seized by French police on charges of inciting violence against Algerian rebels.

Youssef Zazou, Nouman Boualem, and Imad Obi, often known as “Imad Tintin,” are among the influences detained.

Similarly, Algerian authorities imprisoned Boualem Sansal, a French-Algerian writer, in Algiers, a move denounced by French President Emmanuel Macron.