[3] During his time in office, he was in charge of implementing a plan that Chirac set in motion in 1996 to reduce the French Armed Forces' establishment across Africa to 350,000 uniformed personnel, from 500,000, by 2002.

[4] Notably, he closed a key military base in the north of the Central African Republic and reduced forces at a second, in Bangui, in 1997.

Dismissing doubts about France's support for NATO in Kosovo after French officer Pierre-Henri Bunel was charged with passing bombing plans to Serbia, Richard and Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine offered in 1998 to lead the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR).

[8] In January 2001, Richard made a submission about the Mitterrand–Pasqua affair – a controversial arms-trafficking case against Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, son of François Mitterrand – several weeks after magistrates had started criminal proceedings about the deal handled by Pierre Falcone's Paris-based company, Brenco International.

[9] Seen as an ally of Jospin, Richard left office when Jean-Pierre Raffarin became Prime Minister following the 2002 election.

[13] Richard was reelected to a second full term in the Senate in 2017, this time as a member of the liberal La République En Marche!