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By Ania Nussbaum
Alexey Meshkov, Russia’s ambassador to France, said Emmanuel Macron’s recent hawkish commentary on Russia poses “a serious strategic problem.”
Asked what would happen if France were to send troops to Ukraine, Meshkov said that “the absence of clearly defined red lines and the persistence of strategic ambiguity lead each side to assume the worst.”
“I’m not suggesting that Russia intends to declare war on France, but it’s clear that there’s a serious strategic problem arising from this kind of thinking,” he told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper on Sunday.
Meshkov added that the presence of French soldiers in Ukraine “could pose a threat to themselves” and that a small number of “French mercenaries” had already died in the war.
Macron left the door open to sending French combat troops to Ukraine in a response to a Bloomberg News question in February.
The suggestion has since earned recriminations from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as US officials, who said privately that such a move risked fomenting a broader clash with Moscow.
The French president said his comments were designed to keep President Vladimir Putin guessing about what Europe’s response could be to Russian escalation in Ukraine. Macron said current discussions are focussed on sending personnel for de-mining or training.
France and Germany also recently agreed to join forces to produce ammunition in Ukraine.
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The Meshkov interview comes after France’s Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu spoke to his Russian counterpart last week for the first time since October 2022.
As well as Russia’s war in Ukraine, the pair discussed last month’s deadly terror attack on a Moscow theater. The ministry said that France, which has previously been targeted by Islamist attacks, was available for more dialogue with Russia on counter-terrorism.
Meshkov also bemoaned that Russian officials hadn’t been invited to discuss security issues ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris starting in late July.
