Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned in a statement Oct. 27 that French President Emmanuel Macron is preparing to intervene in Ukraine militarily, with a troop deployment of up to 2,000 soldiers, reports TASS on Oct. 28, in an article, “Macron Dreams of Military Intervention in Ukraine—Russian Intelligence.”
The SVR press bureau’s statement emphasized that on Macron’s orders, “the General Staff of the French Armed Forces is preparing to deploy a military contingent of up to 2,000 soldiers and officers to Ukraine to support the Kiev regime.”
It continued, “The core of the force will be made up of assault troops from the French Foreign Legion, primarily from Latin American countries. The legionnaires are already stationed in Poland bordering Ukraine and are undergoing intensive combat training, receiving weapons and military gear. Their redeployment to central Ukraine is prepared for the near future.”
The SVR statement assesses: “In France, hundreds of additional hospital beds are being rapidly created to accommodate the wounded. French doctors are undergoing specialized medical training for field work.” According to the SVR, in the event of a leak about the impending intervention, “Paris intends to claim that this is merely a small group of instructors arriving in Ukraine to train mobilized Ukrainian troops,” reported TASS.
About Macron, the SVR, says, “Having failed as a politician and struggling to guide the country out of a prolonged socio-economic crisis, he has not abandoned his hope of going down in history as a military leader.” However, the statement of SVR, whose director is Sergey Naryshkin, reminded Macron that he should study the history of Napoleon, and of Swedish King Charles XII, whose attempts to destroy Russia through military invasion turned into a catastrophe.
French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pierre Schill told members of the National Assembly’s Defense Committee on Oct. 24 that France’s land forces will be ready to deploy to Ukraine under the framework of future European security commitments. “We will be ready to deploy forces under security guarantees, if necessary—for the benefit of Ukraine,” This likely would involve NATO. The SVR statement indicates that sending French forces would be more immediate.
