Lavrov: Macron seeks the approval of America, not the French

Ryanovsti reported, Sergey Lavrov said these words in the documentary film “Belgrade”, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of NATO’s invasion of Yugoslavia.

The Russian Foreign Minister said: If we consider Macron and his insistence on the phrase “it is possible for us to send ground forces to Ukraine”, this issue is no longer related to the issue of independence and the strategic initiative of Europe. , but in order to satisfy America and provoke Paris’s allies in NATO.

Lavrov recalled that Macron’s recent words questioned his positions of the past few years, which he periodically spoke about in the media about creating a kind of strategic autonomy for Europe.

Russian Foreign Minister said: Europe is completely under the control of the United States, there is no independence.

Lavrov added: The current leaders of European countries do not consider their countries’ national interests as a priority and consider it subordinate to the will of the “collective West”.

He described the European Union as a hostile organization in which the national interests of people and their governments are not prioritized, but programs and ideals are limited to selfish personal motives.

Lavrov’s interview was published on the occasion of the anniversary of NATO’s aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. NATO aggression started on March 24, 1999 and lasted for 78 days. The main reason for NATO’s offensive operation was to prevent the genocide of the Albanian population in Kosovo.

According to Serbian information, as a result of this bombing, 3,500 to 4,000 people were killed and about 10,000 were injured, two-thirds of whom were civilians. During the three months of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, 15 tons of depleted uranium had been dropped on Serbian soil. During the first ten years after the bombing, 30,000 people were diagnosed with cancer, and 10,000 to 18,000 of them died.

At the end of February 2024 (Esfand 1402), French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris would do everything to prevent “Russia from winning this war”. According to him, the leaders of Western countries have discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, but no agreement has been reached yet.

Later, this politician, who was heavily criticized by NATO allies and domestically for these remarks, noted that all his words were carefully considered.

Macron, in a meeting with opposition leaders in early March (mid-March 1402), reiterated that France has “no limits and red lines” regarding aid to Kiev.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said about the words of the French president about sending troops to Ukraine that such a development inevitably leads to a direct military conflict between Russia and NATO.

The root of Paris anger from Putin’s point of view

Earlier, the host of a Russian media asked the Russian president if Macron decided to take revenge on Russia because we stepped on his tail in Africa?
Vladimir Putin in response To this question, he said: Yes, I think there is some kind of dissatisfaction; When we had direct contact with him, we talked about this very openly.
Putin added: We did not go to Africa and we did not expel France from there; The problem is different. The famous Wagner group first carried out a number of economic projects in Syria and then moved to African countries.

According to him, the Russian Ministry of Defense supports these activities, but only on the basis that it is a Russian group, and nothing more.

The President of Russia said: Therefore, we did not expel anyone; Only the leaders of some African countries agreed with the Russian economic activists, they wanted to work with them, but they did not want to work with the French at all. It was not even our initiative, it was the initiative of our African friends.

Source: IRNA