March 20, 2024 (EIRNS)—An unnamed “senior EU official” told Sputnik that the March 21 summit of the EU in Brussels could have on its agenda a discussion of French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for NATO to send troops directly into battle in Ukraine.
The report is credible. On March 19, Sergey Naryshkin, the Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, sounded the alarm: “The current leadership of the country (France) does not care about the deaths of ordinary French people or about the concerns of the generals. According to information coming to the Russian SVR (Foreign Intelligence Service), a contingent to be sent to Ukraine is already being prepared. Initially, it will include around 2,000 troops.” The French military, he added, “fears that such a large military unit cannot be transferred and stationed in Ukraine unnoticed.… It will thus become a legitimate priority target for attacks by the Russian armed forces. This means that it will suffer the fate of all the French who have ever come to the Russian world with a sword,” he stressed.
Naryshkin’s remarks kicked up a storm in France and elsewhere. France’s Defense Ministry responded on March 19: “The maneuver orchestrated by Sergei Naryshkin, Director of Russian Foreign Intelligence, once again illustrates Russia’s systematic use of disinformation. We consider this type of provocation irresponsible.” It does not appear, however, that they directly denied Naryshkin’s report.
