King Salman received at the Kremlin with his 1,000-strong delegation, including 100 businessmen. King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud's official visit to Moscow is the first visit to Russia for a Saudi head of state. Can this visit be seen as the signal of a shift in the region or is it just window dressing?

3 questions to Mark GALEOTTI, Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, Director of Mayak Intelligence consultancy.

3 questions to Andrey KORTUNOV, Director General of the Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC).

3 questions to Stephen SZABO, Executive Director, Transatlantic Academy.

The weekend meeting between the French and Russian presidents has given France a chance to become "the new Germany" for Russia, which lost its last Western ally after a falling-out with official Berlin, analysts say.

French mediation "is aimed at preventing Russia-EU relations from going to the dogs," said Tatiana Kastueva-Jean of the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI) in Paris.

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France's Finance Minister cast doubt Thursday on what Russia had said was the imminent delivery of the first of two Mistral helicopter carriers, feeding uncertainty that French political analysts view as authorities' reluctance to be seen as caving in to Russian pressure.

Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Thursday that the conditions set by French President Francois Hollande last month for delivering the first Mistral — i.e., upholding the tenuous cease-fire and reaching a political settlement in Ukraine — "had not been met at this time."

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Just 147 days after Manuel Valls’ nomination as prime minister at Hôtel Matignon, the cabinet of ministers in Paris faced a new reshuffle. Some believe it will rejuvenate the French economy, which seems mired in stagnation, but most doubt that scenario is a real possibility. François Hollande is rapidly becoming one of the French fifth Republic’s most criticized and mocked presidents. RIAC asked Thomas Gomart, Senior Research Fellow, Vice President for Strategic Development at IFRI, about the nature of the recent government changes and what they will bring.

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"It's clear that we will have to declare ourselves in favour of new sanctions in case of a military escalation," said state secretary for parliamentary relations Jean-Marie Le Guen to French media on Sunday. The junior minister’s comments came as unrest continued to spread in eastern Ukraine, leaving at least one Ukrainian officer and a pro-Russian activist dead in the eastern city of Slaviansk, about 150 km from the Russian border, on Sunday.

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Since December 2011 there is a real convergence between the perception of President Vladimir Putin and the perception of Russia, especially, in the Western media.

That leads to several comments. The first is the feeling that there is now a new, much more concentrated power in the Kremlin, and that to some extent leads to the question about the very difficult challenge for Russia to build balanced institutions. And there is the perception that, on this particular point, Russia has not made progress. And this is the main area of concern as seen from outside.

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We should all be able to agree on a fact: despite the growing international indignation toward it, Russia’s position on Syria has remained remarkably consistent throughout the crisis there. By blocking passage of any resolution at the UN Security Council, Russia has gained both an international visibility and influence that go far beyond its means. And it is precisely this on which the Kremlin seeks to capitalize.