Russian President Vladimir Putin announced Monday evening on television the recognition of two separatist territories in Donbass, eastern Ukraine, and his willingness to send troops there to “maintain peace”. An announcement that destroys all attempts by the European Union and the French president to avoid this scenario. Invited to Europe Matin on Tuesday, François Bayrou, president of the MoDem and high commissioner for planning, felt that we are “in front of a gear that can lead to the worst.”
“There is a balance of power so threatening and so violent that we have to make the toughest decisions. In this kind of situation, we are faced with a spiral that can lead to the worst. We heard Vladmir Putin threatening to vitrify by nuclear weapons those who would oppose him,” he said.
Emmanuel Macron, “the only one to resist”
The president of the Modem also returned to the surprising face-to-face between the Russian president and his security chief on Monday evening. “It was a humiliation live because we saw that they were not on the same line”, he continued before returning to the attitude that European women must adopt towards Vladimir Putin. “When you represent a state, you cannot be in all or nothing. In war or crushing. There is a whole range of commitments, such as very harsh financial sanctions against the oligarchs.”
According to him, Germany will not do anything because it is dependent on Russian gas. “A huge pressure was created on Germany (…) and it was only the French president who brought resistance by leaving an open door”, he still affirmed. “The fruit of his diplomatic action is that today there is at least someone among the leaders who resists without giving up a step, and always leaving a door open to peace. And I think that is the rightest attitude.”
François Bayrou also deplored that certain political leaders were “influenced” by Vladimir Putin. “Some have had an attitude and such recognition that it leads to submission,” he insisted.
“Have an independent line”
He finally returned to the sanctions he considers the most appropriate against Russia. “I am convinced that there are sanctions and modes of resistance while not getting caught up in the spiral of war, if possible,” he posed before detailing. “It is a regime that is sensitive to financial sanctions, to all questions on raw materials.”
For the president of the Modem, we must indeed be ourselves. “That is to say, we must be independent of the two opposing powers.”