Kremlin blasts ‘dangerous’ Macron, Cameron comments on Ukraine
MOSCOW—The Kremlin has slammed “dangerous” comments by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Foreign Secretary David Cameron regarding France sending of troops into Ukraine and Kyiv’s unfettered use of Britain-supplied weapons against targets inside Russia.
In an interview with The Economist published on Thursday, Macron said the question of sending Western troops to Ukraine would “legitimately” arise if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines and Kyiv made such a request.
Moscow has reacted with fury to previous suggestions the West could deploy forces to support Kyiv, casting it as evidence of Nato’s direct involvement in the conflict and its hostile and aggressive stance towards Russia.
“The statement is very important and very dangerous,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
Macron “continues to constantly talk about the possibility of direct involvement on the ground in the conflict around Ukraine. This is a very dangerous trend,” he added.
No caveats
Several Nato countries, including the United States, were quick to push back in February when Macron first said that Paris had not ruled out sending troops to Ukraine.
Peskov also said remarks by British foreign Sec. David Cameron that justified Kyiv striking targets inside Russia were “dangerous” and “escalatory.”
In a visit to Kyiv on Thursday, Cameron said Ukraine “absolutely has the right to strike back at Russia” and that London did not put “caveats” on how Ukrainian forces use weapons supplied by Britain.
Kyiv has hit a number of energy sites inside Russia in recent months, using drones packed with explosives to strike oil refineries and depots hundreds of kilometers behind the front lines.
Ukraine says its hits are justified retribution for Moscow’s attacks, and that they target a source of fuel and revenue for the Russian army.
Cameron’s comments put Britain in a more hawkish position towards Russia than the United States, which stipulates that weapons it supplies to Kyiv should only be used within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders rather than against targets inside Russia itself.
Raising concern
Peskov said the recent statements by Macron and Cameron “potentially pose a danger to European security, to the entire European security architecture.”
“We see a dangerous tendency towards escalation in official statements. This is raising our concern,” he added.
Regarding Cameron’s comments, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said, “This is the first time that a Western politician has so frankly acknowledged what has long been a well-known secret for a majority of the world’s countries: That the West is waging a covert war against Russia with the hands of Ukrainians.”
Russia would respond if Ukraine launched strikes against Russian territory with British weapons, she added.
“How irresponsible and callous do you have to be not to realize what such statements lead to, especially with regard to countries with nuclear weapons,” Zakharova told a briefing.
“We always respond, but how can you not think about the feelings of British subjects and EU citizens.” —reports from AFP, REUTERS
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