FM Lavrov also pushed back against Macron’s proposal to extend France’s nuclear umbrella to its European allies.

On Thursday, Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that his country rejects the European “peace plan,” which would include the deployment of troops in Ukraine.

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He cautioned that Russia sees no difference between the forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the armies of France and the United Kingdom.

“That would mean not a hybrid but an open, official, and undisguised participation of NATO countries in the war against Russia. We cannot allow that,” he said.

The deployment of European troops was proposed on Wednesday by French President Emmanuel Macron as part of a plan agreed upon with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. These countries propose halting military actions for at least a month to deploy troops in Ukraine.

“We are witnessing an attempt to secure, at any cost, a reprieve for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and to prevent the collapse of the front,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova.

“Macron, with the help of Starmer, will soon lead Zelensky to bow his head in Washington… They will still be NATO troops… This discussion is taking place with a hostile intent. They are not hiding what they want them for,” Lavrov said, criticising European leaders for boasting that their plan will be presented to Russian President Vladimir Putin only after it is approved by U.S. President Donald Trump.

“How is this to be understood from the perspective of diplomatic etiquette?” he asked, calling it a “neocolonial” attitude to discuss matters concerning Russia without its involvement, while Europeans insist: “Not a word without Ukraine.” Meanwhile, Putin maintains that Ukraine will not be excluded from negotiations, but that Europe “has no role to play” at the negotiation table.

Regarding the European troops, Lavrov asserted that “there is no room for compromise” and that Moscow will view those forces as it viewed NATO’s potential presence in Ukraine. “We will not sit idly by,” he insisted, drawing a parallel between Macron and other European leaders such as Hitler and Napoleon who decided in the past to go to war against Russia.

“With regard to these frankly foolish accusations that Russia is preparing a war against Europe and France, Putin has spoken out on multiple occasions, dismissing such ideas as utter nonsense,” Lavrov stated, adding that “Moscow only wants to eliminate the root causes of the situation that the West created in Ukraine… to wage war against Russia.”

On Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also reiterated Moscow’s rejection of a possible deployment of European forces in the neighboring country. “Can Russia accept this? We can leave this question hanging in the air without answering it directly, because the answer is absolutely obvious,” he said.

Russia also pushed back against Macron’s proposal to extend France’s nuclear umbrella to its European allies in response to the threat posed by the Kremlin to the continent.

“Of course, this is a threat to Russia… Macron says that nuclear weapons must be used and that we must prepare for their use against Russia. That is, logically, a threat,” Lavrov responded.

He also claimed that some NATO and European Union countries believe that “Macron, in an effort to salvage his reputation, which has been irreparably trampled within France, may resort to absolutely reckless measures.”

Lavrov suggested that Europeans are bothered by the fact that the Russian leader has established contact with Trump, who stated that “everything he agreed upon with Putin was always fulfilled.”

For his part, Peskov asserted that “France thinks more about war” than about peace in Ukraine and that Macron’s nuclear rhetoric serves only to fuel antagonism between Russia and the West.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE

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