MOSCOW, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Russia and France as strategic partners, after the two countries signed a military transport agreement.
"It is not enough to call (current Russian-French ties) just a partnership, they are a strategic partnership," Lavrov said Thursday, the Moscow Times reported this weekend.
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Lavrov was speaking after the signing of a Franco-Russian accord to permit French troops and military equipment being sent to Afghanistan to pass through Russia.
Russia and France have drawn closer over the past two years as both nations opposed the U.S. decision to invade Iraq and topple its president, Saddam Hussein.
