As of: March 8, 2024, 3:05 p.m
By: Simon Schröder
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Macron had promised Ukraine “limitless” support without a “red line”.
Reactions from Moscow and France followed promptly.
Paris/Moscow - According to the Kremlin in Moscow, French President Emmanuel Macron is increasing France's "involvement" in the Ukraine conflict after he did not want to rule out sending ground troops to Ukraine.
“Mr Macron is convinced of his policy, which consists of wanting to inflict a strategic defeat on our country,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a video distributed on the online service Telegram on Thursday.
“And it further increases the level of France’s direct involvement” in the Ukraine conflict, Peskov added.
Macron defends his words – and rejects any “escalation” with Russia
However, Peskov also pointed out the “contradictions” in Macron’s statements on February 26, when he “did not rule out” sending Western ground troops to Ukraine.
This caused unrest among France's NATO allies, most of whom immediately rejected such a deployment of troops, including Germany.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
(Archive photo) © Grigory Sysoev/Imago
Macron then defended his words, but at the same time emphasized that he rejected any “escalation” with Moscow.
On Tuesday he called on Ukraine's allies not to be "cowardly" towards Russia.
Then, in a conversation with French party leaders on Thursday, he said that French support for Ukraine was “limitless” and that there was “no red line.”
Medvedev implicitly threatens France with nuclear weapons – “Anything is allowed against the enemy”
Russian ex-president and current deputy head of the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, who has been known for years for his sharp and sometimes abusive anti-Western rhetoric, commented on Macron's words on the online service red lines more with a view to France”.
Medvedev concluded with the Latin quote “In hostem omnia licita,” which means “anything is permitted against the enemy.”
French politicians are critical of Macron's statements: ground troops mean entry into war
The French reactions were not long in coming either.
Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), was outraged at the French president, claiming that he had shown “unprecedented clarity” with his statement about the deployment of ground troops that no European NATO country would actually “station troops on the ground want".
French National Assembly member Manuel Bompard also criticized the president: "He talks about sending troops, but he is not the one who will risk his life at the front," French magazine l'humanité
reported
.
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Faure also said that sending ground troops would potentially mean that France could come into direct conflict with Russia.
The Green politician Marine Tondelier also had harsh words: “The reality is that France is still doing too little for Ukraine and that the answer must be European.”
Vladimir Putin reacted to the French President's statements and threatened him urgently.
According to the
afp
news agency , the Russian president warned against the escalation of a nuclear war and said: "We also have weapons that can hit targets on their (French, editor's note) territory." (
afp/SiSchr
)