France’s Ambassador to Serbia Frédéric Mondoloni has expressed regret over the seating arrangement at the Armistice Day commemoration in Paris.

In a statement to Belgrade’s TV Prva, Mondoloni said that the seating arrangement was “very clumsy thing which he regrets”. “I was in Belgrade and wanted to mark that day in the best possible way and I leave it up to others to see what happened in Paris,” he said.  

He expressed gratitude over the fact that Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic went to Paris. “The reality is that we fought together during that war and that President Vucic came to Paris to commemorate it together,” the ambassador said.  

He did not want to comment the fact that Kosovo President Hashim Thaci was seated close to the presidents of Russia, France and other WW 1 allies saying it was too complicated and adding that no one believes claims in some Serbian media that Thaci “bought his place close to Putin”.

  President Vucic thanked the ambassador for his statement and added that French President Emmanuel Macron will get a magnificent reception when he comes to Belgrade in December. “Thanks to Ambassador Mondoloni for his wonderful words and the respect he showed for Serbian casualties,” Vucic wrote on his Twitter account.