“Today there is an escalation which is taken by Russia, in several respects: the partial mobilization (…) and this bellicose speech, this threat, which is intended to intimidate or to remind that Russia is a power equipped (with nuclear weapons, editor’s note)”, declared Emmanuel Macron during an interview with BFM TV. “In this context, our duty is to hold our line, that is to say to help Ukraine as we do, to protect its territory, never to be able to attack Russia. We are not at war with Russia,” continued the head of state.
Macron closes in on Putin
Russia’s announcement of the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists and its threat to resort to nuclear weapons, “obviously, it’s blackmail, obviously he has these weapons and the risk is still there. And it’s a way to put pressure at a difficult time in this war,” said Emmanuel Macron. But “I will not make any interpretation or have any comments that would be part of an escalation,” he insisted.
“It’s never good to make political fiction”
“France is a reasonable nuclear power (…). In general, it’s never good to make political fiction, and in particular on this subject (…) because we are caught in the game of an escalation by saying ‘if this happens, then I will do this’. No”, Emmanuel Macron said again.
“We want to obtain the result that we have been pursuing since the beginning, that Ukraine can resist, restore its sovereignty, that Ukraine and Russia get back around the negotiating table,” he said. .