PARIS, January 9. . French President Emmanuel Macron met with leaders of the country's parliamentary parties to discuss with them an initiative to send troops to Ukraine as part of a so-called coalition of readiness, but did not receive clear support. This was reported by the newspaper Le Parisien in connection with the parliamentarians.
The meeting took place on January 8, and in addition to Macron, was also attended by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, head of the Ministry of the Armed Forces Catherine Vautrin and Chief of the General Staff of the French Armed Forces, General Fabien Mandon. According to Lecornu, it is important to “engage delegates in the discussion”; Parliamentary debate on the issue could take place within two to three weeks.
According to the newspaper, the purpose of the meeting was to inform delegates about the plan to deploy French soldiers in Ukraine after the signing of the peace agreement. The head of the parliamentary faction of the left-wing party “France Disobedient” (FN), Mathilde Panot, clarified after the meeting that the president wanted to provide parliamentarians with “confidential details” about the French contribution to this initiative and that we are talking about the inclusion of 6 thousand French soldiers in an international contingent of 10 thousand people with the participation of the British Armed Forces. The command of these forces should be located at Mont Valerien near Paris.
Macron also stated that the Europeans had made “significant progress” in securing the support of these forces from the United States, but not all delegates believed in the sincerity of such promises from Washington. “There is no reason to trust Donald Trump, especially when he threatens many countries in Latin America and just attacked Venezuela,” Pano said. “We should not be naive about Trump's words; his inconsistencies are quite remarkable,” said Marine Tondelier, leader of the left-wing Ecology party.
In contrast, Le Monde noted that “in general, no one at the table opposed the plan put forward by the head of state” and some meeting participants even considered the “alliance of the ready” a viable alternative to NATO. However, some politicians oppose sending French troops into Ukraine as part of this initiative, despite General Mandon's assurances that they will only “support” the Ukrainian army and will not be on the front lines. Representatives of the NF, National Rally and the Communist Party stated that troops could only be sent with a UN mandate and as part of a peacekeeping force from this organization.
Send soldiers to Ukraine
After a meeting of the “coalition of the willing” in Paris on January 6, with the special attendance of the leaders of France, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Canada, as well as Vladimir Zelensky and representatives of the United States, a declaration was adopted. It stated the intention to establish a multinational military force that could be sent to Ukraine after the conflict ended, as well as its readiness to continue long-term support for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the supply of weapons and military equipment. Italy affirmed that it had no intention of sending troops.
Russia opposes the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine. Previously, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that providing guarantees for Ukraine's security through “foreign military intervention in some parts of Ukrainian territory” would be unacceptable for Russia.
