Russian agriculture minister granted entry to France despite sanctions

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with Alexander Tkachev at the Kremlin in Moscow April 22, 2015. REUTERS/Mikhail Klimentyev/RIA Novosti/Kremlin

MOSCOW (Reuters) - France granted Russian Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev an entry visa, the ministry said on Monday, even though he is on a European Union list of Russians banned from entering the bloc after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

It was not immediately clear why France made an exception for the minister, who headed a Russian delegation to an assembly of the World Organisation for Animal Health in Paris that started on Sunday.