France–Russia relations, also known as Franco-Russian relations or Russo-French relations (, , Rossiysko-frantsuzskiye otnosheniya), have seldom been friendly.
In the 18th century Russia imported French intellectuals, most of whom were negative about the little-known land. During the Napoleonic era (1799–1815), both nations wanted to dominate Central and Eastern Europe. Napoleon launched a massive invasion of Russia in 1812, but its failure led to his defeat and Russian dominance in Eastern Europe. Russia also wanted to dominate the Ottoman Empire, but France and Britain fought and won the Crimean War (1854–1856) to prevent that. In the 1890s France was diplomatically isolated and built an alliance with Russia. Together with Britain, they went to war with Germany in 1914–1918. After gaining control in the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers in 1918. In the 1930s, France could not forge an alliance against a resurgent Nazi Germany. The Soviet Union and the United States were the remaining superpowers after 1945, but they faced off in a long Cold War (1947–1989). France supported the United States in the NATO alliance against Communist expansion. Since 1989 relations have been proper but not warm, with several issues marring relations such as the War in Donbas (which evolved into the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine) and Russia's increasing involvement in West Africa.
According to a 2017 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 36% of French people had a favourable view of Russia and 62% an unfavourable view. A 2018 opinion poll published by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center showed that 81% of Russians had a favourable view of France and 19% an unfavourable view.
History
Due to the fact that the Russian centralised state, formed in the 15th-16th centuries, was almost constantly in a state of diplomatic and military confrontation with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Catholic rulers of France for a long time avoided establishing direct diplomatic contacts with Moscow. Real interest in Russia appeared in France only after the 1607 publication of the work of Huguenot mercenary Jacques Margeret, "The State of the Russian State and the Grand Duchy of Moscow", information from which was used in the "History of his time" (1620) by the famous historian Jacques Auguste de Thou (1553–1617).
In 1615, the embassy of Ivan Kondyrev arrived at the court of Louis XIII of France, which ended in failure, but laid the foundation for diplomatic relations between Russia and France.
In the summer of 1668, a Russian embassy travelled from Spain to Paris. Headed by the steward Pyotr Potemkin, who had an audience with Louis XIV and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the embassy discussed the establishment of mutually beneficial trade relations between the two countries.
The first diplomatic representation of Russia in France appeared in 1702 by decree of Peter I, who was interested in an alliance with Louis XIV due to the rapprochement between England and Sweden. A visit to France by Peter I himself in 1717 served as the starting point for the establishment of permanent diplomatic relations between the two countries, interrupted only by the French Revolution.
Concerned about the dominance of the Germans at the court of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740), French diplomacy actively promoted the palace coup of 1741 and the enthronement of Elizabeth of Russia, who from her youth sympathised with France and King Louis XV, whom she had unsuccessfully tried to marry. An active role was played by the Marquis de la Chétardie, who served as diplomatic envoy to the Russian court from 1739 to 1744. However, after the efforts of Chancellor Alexey Bestuzhev-Ryumin, de la Chétardie fell into disgrace and in 1748, the influence of the pro-French party weakened noticeably.