Emmanuel Macron launched this Friday an alert about the growing international danger of Russia governed by Vladimir Putinwhich he accused of showing a “will to attack” towards Europe.
«Russia has become a methodical actor in global destabilization» through its military aggressions and its growing disinformation and cyberattack campaigns, stated the French president.
In a very harsh intervention when opening a press conference after signing a bilateral security agreement with the Ukrainian president, Volodímir ZelenskiMacron warned that “Russia has entered a new phase” in which these campaigns “have multiplied” and “have surpassed the limits”.
«This change in position clearly marks a desire for aggression towards us»he considered, and therefore “we must be lucid”for the purpose of “open a new phase of operational and strategic reflection” on how to respond to Moscow.
On Monday, the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland proposed, after a meeting next to Paris, that the European Union put in place defense mechanisms against Russian disinformation campaigns and computer attacks.
nuclear weapon in space
The French president accused Russia – later specifying that it was better to use the term “Kremlin regime” – of being “an imperialist” and “revisionist” power, in addition to encouraging instability in Africa and the Middle East.
Macron also said today that Moscow “must give explanations without delay” about its alleged plans to deploy a nuclear weapon in spaceand called for international organizations to get involved in what it sees as an increase in Russian violations of international law.
Asked if with these words he feared a conflict with Russia, he responded that he did not want to “disturb” but that it is necessary to recognize that “the Kremlin regime has toughened its aggressions” which, without being a war, “are forms of conflict.”
The Macron-Zelensky meeting took place against the background of the death in prison of the main Russian opposition, Alexei Navalnywhich the French president attributed to an indication of the Kremlin’s “weakness” in the face of the upcoming Russian presidential elections.
Russia’s “strategic defeats”
Macron noted that the growing Russian aggressiveness comes after the Kremlin has suffered several “strategic defeats,” such as the inability to annex Ukraine in a war that was planned to end in “a few weeks”.
As a result of the war, «Ukraine will join the European Union and I hope NATO»but also the conflict “has pushed Sweden and Finland into NATO”The French leader highlighted this as an example of other failures of Putin’s strategy.
Both presidents signed a bilateral security agreement, the third that Ukraine signs in Europe after the one also closed today with Germany and in January with the United Kingdom in January. In addition, kyiv is negotiating similar agreements with other countries.
This is the materialization of the commitment made by the G7 countries at the NATO summit held in Vilnius last year to close pacts of this type with kyiv, which are valid until the country joins the Alliance.
The agreement signed in Paris establishes that France will provide aid valued at 3 billion euros to Ukraine this yearafter 2,100 million in 2023 and 1,700 in 2022.
Help Ukraine
The pact, which will be valid for ten years, “shows our determination to support Ukraine in the long term,” Macron said.
Zelensky welcomed Macron’s commitment to send more artillery and ammunition amid the escalation of Russian attacks on the eastern Ukrainian front. “It is, once again, an important package” of aid, he said.
The French president also promised to make a new visit to Ukraine “before mid-March.” EFE
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