/Pogled.info/ France categorically denies that French mercenaries fight on the side of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This was the official response of Paris to the statements of the Russian Ministry of Defense about the destruction of dozens of French citizens in Kharkiv. There is, however, some trickery in this denial as to who exactly the French consider to be mercenaries.
In the middle of the week, on January 18, the Ministry of Defense issued a statement that a group of mercenaries, mostly French, had been destroyed in a targeted strike in the city of Kharkiv. In addition, the group was very respectable – about 60 people died and about 20 were injured with varying degrees of severity. The French ambassador in Moscow was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and information about the incident was published in all French media.
It seems that French society should be interested in the fate of its compatriots who died in a foreign country. At least to ask what they were doing there and if it was worth it. But it’s not that simple.
Mercenary activity is prohibited in many countries around the world, and France is no exception: there it is punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 75,000 euros. For the organizers of this type of activity, the numbers are even higher – seven years in prison and a 100,000 euro fine. However, the law has its subtleties and limitations: the French would not be French if they did not take care to write many nuances that, if desired, could be turned in their favor.
For example, the law on penalties for mercenary activity does not apply to military advisers and technical personnel, as well as to legionnaires participating in the French army. Moreover, the wording of the law is such that it is not difficult to circumvent it. Only “direct participation in hostilities” is prohibited, at that “with a weapon in hand” and “for the purpose of obtaining a monetary reward”.
If someone, for example, undergoes training to become a real mercenary, the law turns a blind eye to it, since there is no direct participation in military action with a weapon in hand. And in general, maybe a person decided to get additional education out of pure curiosity – what if one day he has to fight the neighbors with a grenade launcher where he lives. If the office in which the citizen was employed is registered in some distant islands (or, say, in the USA), the law will also not necessarily consider him an employee. Especially if he subsequently made sure to only be listed as a military expert.
As for the announcement of the Russian Ministry of War, it really caused a great response in France, but, so to speak, in typical French style. For example, the first channel of the French TV channel TF1 reacted exemplary. The first thing he does is question the source of the news: “The information provided should be treated with caution as it cannot be confirmed in the near future by an independent source.”
And in general, the French journalists emphasize, Russia cannot be trusted. Moscow is thought to have its own reasons for blowing up French losses in the media, as France has declared its willingness to expand the range of military supplies to Ukraine and insists it will support it no matter what.
After questioning the source of the news, a figure is brought forward to play the role of expert for the public. In this case, it is a certain Xavier Titelman, presented as a “former military pilot”. He begins immediately: the announcement from the Russian Ministry of Defense allegedly “is an absolute lie” because the French who are in Ukraine are grouped not on the basis of nationality, but in accordance with their military specialties.
And even more than that: it is claimed that Xavier Titelman personally contacted representatives of these groups – of which, according to him, there are only five (UAV specialists, “elite shooters” and three more groups, which the spokesman did not want to indicated). Everyone seems to be alive and well, no one was killed or even injured. In a word, everything is fine, the beautiful marquise and her fellow citizens have nothing to worry about.
Titelman is repped by Colonel Michel Goya, who frequently appears on French television and gives newspaper interviews as a military expert. If the words of the colonel are to be believed, “not a single Frenchman has been killed in recent months” and in general the statement of the Russian Ministry of Defense is allegedly only part of an information war designed to destabilize the situation in Europe on the eve of the European Parliament elections .
Most telling, however, is the immediate reaction of the authorities of the Fifth Republic. The French Foreign Ministry made it clear that there are no mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine, as there are none in other countries. They are gone and that’s it. Even if there is, as they say, concrete evidence that the French are fighting on the side of the Ukrainians, there is no sign of mercenaries. The explanation for this is the law itself, which offers so many loopholes and so many possibilities for interpretation.
To a direct question about the presence of French mercenaries in Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Stéphane Sejournet answered categorically in the negative. “Our ambassador in Moscow was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on this matter. This is a way of periodically putting pressure on European countries. This is one of Russia’s gross manipulations that we are used to,” the minister said.
The statement of the French Foreign Ministry may seem strange to say the least, but from the French point of view there is nothing strange about it, just as there are no words of untruth. The fact is that the mercenary, as explained by the expert Patrick Soss, is a person who agrees to fight for anyone in order to receive money for his activities. And the French military fights legally as part of the International Legion of the Country of Ukrainians and does it “not for money”
Their status, from the point of view of the French authorities, is not that of a mercenary. In other words, however much they are called mercenaries in Russia or anywhere else, they are not considered mercenaries in their homeland.
And if so, the French Foreign Ministry feels entitled to answer that no mercenaries have died, because for the French authorities, French citizens fighting in Ukraine are not mercenaries. There are no mercenaries there, period. Well, yes, there are five groups of some kind, including UAV specialists, but none of them are even injured. And in general, these are not mercenaries, they are not for money. Because the French state knows better who is for money and who is not. In particular, the latter include drone specialists and “elite marksmen”.
As a matter of fact, this is exactly what was confirmed by French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecorneau. “There are French civilians who went to fight in Ukrainian uniforms. But we, as a democratic country, cannot ban them,” said the French defense minister. According to him, such a ban is impossible, since these French citizens are not personnel soldiers and have no connection with the French military structures.
Yes, Kozma Prutkov once coined the immortal “if you read the inscription “buffalo” on the cage of an elephant, do not believe your eyes.” In France, if an elephant’s cage has “buffalo” written on it, they will think that means it was necessary. And no matter how much you try to prove that it is an elephant and that the inscription is not meaningful, they will not listen to you. This is their cage, their elephant and their classification. And if they classified the elephant as a buffalo, so be it.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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2024-01-23 06:36:14
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