LREM MEP Nathalie Loiseau indicated on Tuesday January 25 on franceinfo that Russia was preparing to “unprecedented sanctions” from the European Union. For his part, Emmanuel Macron warned that Russia would pay a cost “very high” in the event of an attack on Ukraine. The French president will have a telephone conversation on Friday with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the Ukrainian crisis.
“The objective of the efforts made by Emmanuel Macron and by all Europeans and Americans is to dissuade Russia from attacking Ukraine”, specifies Nathalie Loiseau, “with diplomatic efforts, but also with a deterrent capacity which consists in preparing sanctions like we have never taken against Russia, if it were to carry out its threats”.
The President of the Security and Defense Sub-Committee in the European Parliament assures that “a lot of things are in preparation“. “Emmanuel Macron will speak” Friday “to Vladimir Putin”. Wednesday, a meeting “with Russians, Ukrainians, French, Germans” will take place. “All diplomatic efforts are being made to avoid a conflict, because the first people who do not want conflict are the Ukrainians”, assures Nathalie Loiseau. “We are at the rendezvous.”
Asked about Russia’s desire to invade Ukraine, the MEP points out “nostalgia for the past” of the Russian President. “I’m not in Vladimir Putin’s mind. But what we’ve been hearing from the Russian president for years is nostalgia for a past age, that of the Cold War, when the Soviet Union was larger than today’s Russia, and nostalgia for a Russia that would deny these neighbors the right to live in democracy, the right to choose their political model and the right to choose their allies.”
The MEP recalls that Russia “attacked and annexed Crimea when the European Union signed an association agreement with Ukraine”. According to her, what “Vladimir Putin is feared more than anything, he is the model” what the European Union represents.
Nathalie Loiseau insists that “every diplomatic effort is being made to dissuade Vladimir Putin from taking a risk that is too big for him, too big for Russia. There is no point”. She believes that “the Russian people are waiting for something else”.