Don't let yourself be fooled.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stéphane Séjourné, called on Wednesday not to believe Russia which claims to have gained the upper hand over Ukraine.
“Russia is trying to persuade us that its victory is inevitable.
In particular, she seeks to persuade us that Ukraine has already lost.
This is false for several reasons,” declared Stéphane Séjourné during a hearing at the National Assembly.
He recalled that the Ukrainian army “has already managed to retake (…) almost half of the Ukrainian territory conquered by Russia”.
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“Contrary to popular belief, Ukraine has achieved a number of notable successes, notably in Crimea and the Black Sea, by securing a maritime corridor which is crucial for exports and the world's food balance,” he said. -he also underlined.
He finally estimated that since the start of winter, it is “the Russian army which is exhausting itself in costly offensives, in men and equipment, for very limited gains”.
“Our support must be up to par”
The sanctions against Russia are “effective”, he also judged.
“We must not get caught up in the narrative that sanctions are not effective,” he said, adding that data on the effectiveness of these sanctions will “probably” be made public soon.
He nevertheless admitted that these were “perfectible” and that it was necessary to further attack the “misuse” of these sanctions.
He finally insisted on the fact that France was prepared to support Ukraine “in the long term”.
“In kyiv, where I went a few hours after my appointment, the resilience of the Ukrainian people is intact,” he testified.
“Our support must be up to the task: it must be frank, lasting, indestructible.
This is how we will influence Russian strategy,” he also declared.
State services have detected an attempted large-scale information attack.
I wanted to speak directly to you to call on you to be vigilant.
Our democratic debate must be preserved.
Reliable information is the basis of everything.
pic.twitter.com/WFiPrtg5zN
— Stéphane Séjourné (@steph_sejourne) February 13, 2024
Furthermore, he noted that Russia is not only waging a war against Ukraine “but it is also attacking us.”
“She used the weapon of energy, she used the weapon of food, she also uses the weapon of disinformation,” he lamented.
On Tuesday, Stéphane Séjourné posted a video in which he addressed the French population to denounce “a hostile informational maneuver coming from Russian actors, based on 193 dormant sites which relay misleading or false content”.