The announcement of the “partial mobilization” of Russians of fighting age by the Russian President, and the threat of recourse to nuclear weapons have not finished reacting. “Our duty is to hold our line” facing “blackmail” of Vladimir Putin, said Thursday, September 22, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, in an interview with the BFMTV channel.
> > War in Ukraine: find all the reactions after Vladimir Putin’s speech in our live
“Today there is an escalation which is taken by Russia, in several respects: the partial mobilization (…) and this bellicose speech, this threat, which is intended to intimidate or to remind that Russia is a power equipped (with nuclear weapons)”declared the French head of state. “In this context, our duty is to hold our line, that is to say to help Ukraine as we do, to protect its territory, never to be able to attack Russia. We are not in war with Russia”he continued.
These statements represent, “obviously (…) blackmail, obviously he has these weapons and the risk is always there. And it is a way to put pressure in a difficult moment of this war”, said Emmanuel Macron. But “I will not make any interpretation or have any comments that would be part of an escalation”he insisted.
“France is a reasonable nuclear power (…). In general it is never good to make political fiction, and in particular on this subject (…) because we are caught in the game of escalation saying ‘if this happens, then I will do this’. No”said Emmanuel Macron. “We want to obtain the result that we have been pursuing since the beginning, that Ukraine can resist, restore its sovereignty, that Ukraine and Russia get back around the negotiating table”, he concluded.