March 16, 2024 (EIRNS)—French President Emmanuel Macron told French TF2 and France 2 television broadcasters on March 14 that “We are doing everything so that it [Ukraine] can put Russia in check because, I will tell you very simply, there is no lasting peace if there is no sovereignty, a return to the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, including Crimea.” Macron was speaking on the eve of his March 15 meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, which was called to discuss the rifts that have surfaced between France and Germany after Macron’s repeated calls to put NATO boots on the ground in Ukraine. In this latest interview, Macron refused to elaborate on what he meant by not ruling out NATO troop presence, stating that he wanted to maintain “strategic ambiguity” and that he has “reasons not to be precise.”
According to accounts in London’s The Guardian and in RT of March 15, Macron used his interview to demand a more aggressive stance against Russia. “We have set too many limits with words,” Macron said. “Two years ago we said we would never send tanks. Then we did. Two years ago we said we would never send medium-range missiles. Then we did.”
Macron went on to describe Russia as France’s “adversary,” but argued that Paris has not been “waging war on Russia” but merely “supporting” Kiev in the conflict. “Certainly, today, Russia is an adversary. The Kremlin regime is an adversary,” Macron stated.
