a spiritual centre at a new Russian Orthodox church near the Eiffel Tower , but Hollande had insisted his Russian counterpart also took part in talks with him about Syria . The unprecedented cancellation of a visit so close to being finalised is a ' serious step ... reminiscent of the Cold War ' , said Russian foreign policy analyst Fyodor Lukyanov . ' This is part of the broader escalation in the tensions between Russia and the West , and Russia and NATO , ' he told AFP .
Seated next to Simonyan at the dinner and just two seats away from Putin himself was perhaps the most intriguing example of how the Russians have gone about recruiting disaffected members of that establishment : a rugged - looking man in a tuxedo who less than 18 months earlier had been head of the Defense Intelligence Agency , the Pentagon ’s powerful in - house equivalent of the CIA . Michael Flynn , now a private citizen after a reportedly disgruntled retirement , was not there to gather intelligence . His attendance at the RT gala , before which he also gave a talk on world affairs , appeared to inaugurategovernment.formation.naa relationship with the network — presumably a paid one , though neither Flynn nor RT answered queries on the subject . Flynn now makes semi - regular appearances on RT as an analyst , in which he often argues that the U.S. and Russia should be working more closely together on issues like fighting ISIL and ending Syria ’s civil war . “ Russia has its own national security strategy , and we have to respect that , ” he said in one recent appearance .