Moscow accuses France of having deployed “mercenaries” in Ukraine; Paris denounces “gross manipulation”
Against a backdrop of growing diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Paris, Russia denounced the presence of “mercenaries” French in Ukraine. On Wednesday, in a press release, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced, without providing proof, that it had destroyed “precision strike” a building in Kharkiv serving as “temporary deployment zone of mercenaries, most of whom were French citizens”. Sixty fighters were “eliminated” and 20 injured, Moscow assures.
Subsequently, on Friday, the French ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow to be accused of “the growing involvement of Paris in the conflict in Ukraine”.
“France has no “mercenaries”, neither in Ukraine nor elsewhere, unlike others”reacted vigorously the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs by denouncing “a new crude Russian manipulation”.
The term “mercenary”, chosen by Moscow, is not insignificant. French law prohibits mercenarism, or the act of fighting for remuneration abroad, punishable by five years of imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros. This term is also the one used by France to denounce the activities of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, accused for years by Paris of predation and war crimes in Africa.
On Monday, a pro-Russian French association, SOS Donbass, echoed, through the Russian agency RIA Novosti, a list of names of 13 “French mercenaries”. Some of the identities put forward on these lists are false, according to a French diplomatic source. Chain Rybarclose to the Russian army, also expresses doubts about the list relayed by SOS Donbass.