French President Emmanuel Macron declared on Monday that he refused to “enter into a logic of escalation” regarding the war in Ukraine.
This statement comes after his controversial comments on the option of a possible sending, in the future, of Western soldiers to Ukraine.
“In response to a question asked to me about sending troops, I replied that nothing was excluded,” recalled the head of state in an interview with the daily Pravo, an extract of which was published online Monday evening, on the eve of his visit to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
“We are launching the debate and thinking about everything we can do to support Ukraine.
I have always been clear about our framework: we are not at war against the Russian people and we refuse to enter into a logic of escalation.
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Ukraine: Macron says sending troops in the future cannot “be ruled out”
This is the first time that Emmanuel Macron returns to his comments made on February 26 in Paris, following an international conference on support for Ukraine.
He then declared, in the name of a doctrine of “strategic ambiguity”, that a sending of Western troops to Ukraine could not “be excluded” in the future, while recognizing that there was no such thing at this stage. no “consensus” among the allies of kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
“Special attention” and strategic partnership
The French government then clarified that these were not combat troops.
But almost all of the other Western allies immediately distanced themselves from his position, ensuring that there is no question of sending soldiers to Ukrainian soil.
Read alsoWar in Ukraine: why Emmanuel Macron is shaking up the taboo of ground troops
During his visit to Prague, the French president must clarify his support for a Czech initiative to purchase non-European munitions for Ukraine.
His trip aims to highlight the “special attention” paid to Central Europe by France.
At a time when he seems more and more to want to impose his leadership in support for kyiv and the standoff with Russia, he meets his counterpart Petr Pavel, whom he received in Paris in December.
He will also sign with the Prime Minister, Petr Fiala, an action plan for the bilateral strategic partnership 2024-2028.
As early as mid-February, Petr Pavel mentioned a total of 800,000 munitions which could be sent to Ukraine "in a few weeks" if the necessary financing (1.5 billion dollars, or 1.38 billion euros, according to the Financial Times) were gathered.
Long reserved, Emmanuel Macron announced last week that his country would participate in this initiative but without quantifying its contribution.
Paris always pleads for European money to be used to finance the production of weapons within the European Union, in the name of its sovereignty and the development of its defense industry.
Finally, on the economic level, Emmanuel Macron's visit also aims to support the candidacy of the French electricity group EDF which aims to win the market for a Czech civil nuclear program which could include the construction of up to four reactors.