Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu warned French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu that deploying troops to Ukraine would be a disaster for Paris. Photo/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP
MOSCOW – Deploying troops to Ukraine would be a disaster for France, says Defense Minister Russia Sergey Shoigu to his French colleague Sebastien Lecornu in a rare phone call on Wednesday.
The hour-long telephone conversation was the first conversation between the defense ministers since October 2022.
According to an explanation provided by the Russian Ministry of Defense, Thursday (4/4/2024), Shoigu warned that France “will create problems for itself” if it decides to send troops to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly raised the prospect of deploying NATO troops to Ukraine, stating that “all options are possible”.
But he stressed that Paris has no such plans at the moment. Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said in February that France could at some point send anti-demining and other non-combat personnel.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it will treat Western troops and foreign-supplied weapons systems on Ukrainian territory as legitimate targets.
“The deployment of foreign troops would be a major escalation, which would have irreparable consequences,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last month.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said that Shoigu and his French colleague discussed the potential resumption of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
2024-04-04 02:35:28
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