As of: March 23, 2024, 7:17 p.m
By: Momir Takac
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There is still talk of French soldiers being deployed in the Ukraine war.
Putin's top spy is therefore sending preemptive threats to Paris.
Munich – The scenario of NATO or French troops in Ukraine seems to be becoming more and more real.
Statements from France at least indicate that President Emmanuel Macron is moving forward with his plan.
However, it is unclear what tasks French soldiers could take on.
Prophylactic threats are already coming from Russia.
Head of the Russian foreign intelligence service threatens possible French soldiers in Ukraine
State Duma deputy speaker Pyotr Tolstoy
threatened to “kill all French soldiers” stationed in Ukraine in an interview with French broadcaster
BFMTV .
Deputy head of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev described the systematic extermination of the French as an “important task.”
Now the head of the Russian foreign intelligence service has followed up.
According to Russian news agency
Tass
, Vladimir Putin's top spy Sergei Naryshkin claimed that France was planning to send a 2,000-strong contingent to Ukraine.
Putin's top spy Naryshkin (2nd from left) declared possible French soldiers in Ukraine a target.
© IMAGO / ITAR-TASS
“This makes it a legitimate, priority target for attacks by Russian forces,” Naryshkin said.
The soldiers would suffer the fate of all Frenchmen who ever came to Russia “with a sword”.
The message is clear: whatever form you take part in the Ukraine war, you are in danger.
French troops in the Ukraine war?
Macron doesn't show his hand
Macron doesn't give any indication of his plans.
The president said in an interview at the beginning of March that he did not want to give any details about “what France can and will do, because otherwise I would weaken the effectiveness of aid and support for Ukraine.”
However, it is unlikely that French soldiers will take direct part in combat operations.
Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu is skeptical about sending French soldiers.
Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné ruled out direct hostilities to MPs in February.
Soldiers could instead take part in demining, cyber defense or the production of weapons on site, said Séjourné.
Ukraine brings French soldiers into play as border guards
A former officer in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) also does not believe that French troops would be active at the front in the Ukrainian war.
"I am absolutely sure that if deployed, French soldiers will not take part in combat operations," Ivan Stupak, now an adviser to Ukraine's parliamentary committee on national security, defense and intelligence, told
Newsweek
.
“French soldiers would be very useful as border guards,” Stupak continued.
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They could, for example, be stationed in tense border areas with Belarus and the Kremlin-friendly Moldovan region of Transnistria.
This would bring relief and Ukrainian soldiers stationed at borders could move to the front.
French units could also provide support with weapons repairs or logistics.
There seems to be sufficient manpower available.
France could deploy 20,000 soldiers within 30 days, wrote Army General Pierre Schill in a guest article for
Le Monde
.
(mt)