Following Vladimir Putin’s recognition of separatist territories in Ukraine in the Donbass region, Nathalie Loiseau, president of the “Security and Defense” sub-committee in the European Parliament, believes that the Russian president is “in a spiral of provocation” with a view to war.
Article written by
Posted
Update
Reading time : 2 min.
Nathalie Loiseau, Renew-LREM MEP, President of the “Security and Defense” sub-committee in the European Parliament, and former Minister for European Affairs, estimated Monday evening February 21 on franceinfo that “Vladimir Putin has prepared everything for a war”recognizing the independence of the separatist regions of Ukraine.
>>> Conflict between Ukraine and Russia: Vladimir Putin recognizes the independence of the pro-Russian separatist territories of Donbass
franceinfo: Did you expect this situation, this recognition of the independence of the separatist regions of Ukraine?
Nathalie Loiseau: What we’ve seen for several days, several weeks, and even more so today, is that Vladimir Putin is in a kind of spiral of provocation. He prepared everything for a war. Emmanuel Macron, and Westerners in general, make proposals to him to avoid war and move towards diplomacy, and he raises the level of provocation even further.
Isn’t Vladimir Putin trying to up the ante?
He wants to put maximum pressure on Ukraine to either lead Ukraine to retaliate militarily and he can say “it’s not me”, or impose himself as the protector of the self-proclaimed republics and continue to attack Ukraine , or try to blow up Volodymyr Zelensky’s regime. What Vladimir Poutine does not support, it is this democratic Ukraine which looks towards Europe. This is the opposite of what he did with Russia. Since he came to power, he has transformed Russia into an increasingly isolated, withdrawn and downgraded country today. He has in front of him a Ukraine that wants something else. And now he’s ready to do anything to stop her.
What penalties do you think are needed?
We obviously need an extremely firm, extremely united reaction from Europeans and Americans. I am obviously in favor of there being economic sanctions as of now. We never said we were going to war in Ukraine. We said on the other hand that we were going to help the Ukrainian army and of course we have to do that. Some European countries send military equipment. It was also decided to help in the training of Ukrainian officers. […] Ukraine is not threatening anyone. It must be able to defend its sovereignty, its integrity, at a time when the discourse led by Vladimir Putin is extremely threatening.