If French troops are sent to Ukraine, Russia will take retaliatory measures that will not be only at the political level, said the official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Artem Studenikov.
“You ask about our possible diplomatic response, but it is clear that, if such a scenario is realized, the response measures will be far outside the political plan. The French side has been directly warned about this several times,” Studenikov, who is the director of the first European department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told RIA Novosti.
The Russian diplomat noted that although French President Emmanuel Macron’s “increasingly combative rhetoric” is not widely supported by allies in the EU and NATO and that most French people reject him, Moscow cannot help but take such statements seriously.
As Studenikov pointed out, France’s participation in hostilities in Ukraine would make it officially a party to the conflict, which would greatly increase the risk of a conflict between the two nuclear powers on the battlefield, and at the same time, the French. The army would “become a legitimate target” of the Russian military, he said. He expressed the hope that “if not common sense, then at least the instinct of self-preservation” will prevail in France’s governing circles.
One way or another, we are ready for any development”, concluded Studenikov.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in early May that he does not rule out sending troops to Ukraine if Russia breaks the front line, and that such a request comes from Kiev. According to his words, “many EU countries” agreed with this approach of France, reports RIA Novosti.
