MOSCOW, April 7. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu called his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in order to persuade Moscow to soften its position regarding the Western contingent in Ukraine and find the basis for “freezing” the conflict, British analyst Alexander Mercouris said in an interview with the Duran YouTube channel.< br>«
“I think they wanted to see if the Russians could soften their position on the deployment of French troops in Ukraine. The Russians warned that the French would be targeted, <…> and the French are afraid of it,” he said.
According to Mercouris, France is well aware of the catastrophic nature of the situation in Ukraine and the gloomy prospects of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield. That is why, as the analyst suggested, another task for Lecornu was to test the waters for some kind of agreement with Russia, which would ensure the freezing of the conflict.
The British expert recalled that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already clearly expressed his position regarding attempts to lure the country into negotiations on freezing the conflict in Ukraine. During an interview with journalist Dmitry Kiselev, the Russian president called the authors of such proposals “dangerous people.” As Putin noted then, Western “peacekeepers” will only “throw in their wishes” under the guise of concessions to Russia.
“I am increasingly thinking that <…> Putin had Macron in mind when speaking about dangerous people.” ,” Mercouris expressed his opinion.
A telephone conversation between Lecornu and Shoigu, initiated by Paris, took place on Wednesday. As the Russian Ministry of Defense said, during the conversation the French minister “persistently tried to convince his Russian colleague that Kyiv and Western countries were not involved” in the terrorist attack in Crocus City Hall, shifting all the blame to IS*.
The parties also touched upon the topic possible sending of French troops to Ukraine. The head of the Russian department warned his colleague about the problems that Paris would face if these plans were implemented.
Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for negotiations, but the Ukrainian authorities have introduced a ban on them at the legislative level. The West ignores Kyiv’s constant refusals to engage in dialogue. The Kremlin stated that there are currently no prerequisites for the situation in Ukraine to transition to a peaceful direction. They added that the absolute priority for Russia remains achieving the goals of the special operation; now this is only possible through military means.
* Terrorist organization banned in Russia.