Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Medvedev said that Russia would benefit if France decided to deploy troops to Ukraine to support Kyiv.
"In fact, it would be great if France sent a few regiments to Ukraine. It's very difficult to conceal such a large number of soldiers, so eliminating them isn't the most difficult task, but it's certainly the most important one. Think about the beneficial chain reaction that France's actions would bring," Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev posted on Telegram on March 20.
Medvedev did not specify what benefits Russia would receive. According to him, French servicemen in Ukraine would become an interventionist force, so removing them would be a "priority and a matter of honor" for the Russian armed forces.
Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev (left) visits a military training center in Siberia in July 2023. Photo: AFP
Sergey Naryshkin, head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), stated on March 19 that France was preparing to send troops to Ukraine, initially around 2,000 soldiers. He also noted that French servicemen had been unofficially present in Ukraine for some time, and that some of them had been killed or wounded.
The French Ministry of Defence rejected the information, calling it "another example of systematic disinformation" by Russia.
Tensions between Russia and France have recently escalated after President Emmanuel Macron declared late last month that the West "does not rule out" sending troops to Ukraine, a move considered taboo and potentially drawing NATO into a large-scale war with Russia, a nuclear-armed nation.
The Kremlin criticized the French president's statement, warning that the West's deployment of troops to Ukraine would lead to an "unavoidable" direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
On March 4, Macron clarified that his statement did not mean France would send troops to Ukraine in the near future. French officials affirmed that Macron wanted to spark debate on the issue among allies, but there were no concrete plans yet.
Huyen Le (According to TASS , Kyiv Post , Reuters )
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