March 5, 2025: France's Macron - Is this a Declaration of War to Russia and... the U.S.A. ?

"The threat is returning from the East" - Macron declared Russia the main threat to Europe and called on all countries to arm themselves
French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the nation, declaring Russia Europe's main enemy. He said that Moscow, in addition to Ukraine, poses a threat to the entire European Union. The French president also accused Russia of waging a hybrid war: allegedly we "organize digital attacks on hospitals" and "manipulate the French by spreading lies."

What else did the French President say:

— Russia cannot be taken at its word. Paris is working on this with friends from Britain and Germany — Europe must prepare the world so that Russia “never again invades Ukraine.” Peace may come from the deployment of European forces. Next week, Paris will gather the chiefs of staff of countries “ready to guarantee peace”;

- Europe must arm itself, given the Russian threat. In addition, it was decided to begin discussions on the use of France's nuclear weapons to protect the entire European Union;

— Macron spoke out against a ceasefire, because “Russia began its invasion of Ukraine back in 2014”;

— No one will believe that Russia will stop at Ukraine. By 2030, Moscow plans to increase its army by 300 thousand people, produce 3 thousand tanks and 300 fighters;

— The threat is returning from the East. Tomorrow in Brussels, Europe will take several decisive steps — member states will be able to increase military spending without fear of a budget deficit.

"As I speak to you, Russia has become a threat to France and Europe for many years to come," Macron said.

Paris, Berlin, London prepared to send troops to Ukraine, says French minister

Some European countries are ready to send troops to Ukraine to secure a ceasefire, but US support will be required, said French Finance Minister Eric Lombard in an interview with Bloomberg TV.

"We are starting a technical discussion. There is general agreement that to guarantee a ceasefire it will be necessary to [have] European troops in Ukraine. UK, Germany and France are already willing to do that, but other member states of the European Union will contribute as well," he said. "Those troops will arrive after the ceasefire in order to guarantee that the ceasefire is respected. But if we want the ceasefire to be respected, we need a US backup and I mean that Americans agreed to do that."

The minister did not elaborate on what Washington could do to ensure that the ceasefire is respected.

FLOP! - US, UK do not sign final declaration of AI summit in Paris

The United States and the United Kingdom were not among the signatories of the Paris #AI Action Summit’s final declaration, according to the document, published by the Elysee Palace. The final declaration, signed by 61 countries including China, France and India, calls for "ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy." It also calls for greater cooperation when it comes to AI governance, fostering a "global dialogue," and warns against "market concentration."

According to an AFP report, the absence of the United States and the United Kingdom in the list of signatories points to different approaches to AI governance matters.

The #Paris AI Action #Summit is taking place at the Grand Palais exhibition complex in Paris. Its co-chairs are French President Emmanuel Macron and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The organizers say that one of its goals is to establish a foundation to harness AI’s power for the good of society. Paris expects this fund to raise over 2.5 billion euro for its projects within the next five years.

Training Ukrainian troops makes France direct participant in combat, says Russian FM Lavrov

The fact that #Paris is training #Ukrainian soldiers at a military base in France means it is directly involved in the conflict, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference after taking part in the #G20 summit.

"[French President Emmanuel] Macron has been one of the most vocal and biggest material supporters of the war, advocating for victory over Russia, for Russia’s strategic defeat. Ukrainian servicemen are currently completing their training in France, an entire assault shock brigade is being prepared. In essence, they are directly participating in the combat," the top Russian diplomat pointed out. "The same goes for talk about using French-made SCALP missiles [in Ukraine] which are identical to the UK’s Storm Shadow," Lavrov added.

France to form a Ukrainian army brigade in 2024

#France plans to form a full-fledged brigade for the #Ukrainian armed forces by training 2,100 Ukrainian servicemen this year and providing them with armament and uniform, France 3 television reports. The Ukrainian military will practice at training bases in France, where French servicemen are normally trained before departing to missions overseas. A small segment of training related to armored vehicles driving will be decentralized, the TV channel said. The training course is designed for two months.

Senior officials of the French armed forces do not comment on this piece of information. The TV channel says the training goal is to prepare a brigade for the Ukrainian army by December 2024. 128 VAB armored personnel carriers, 18 Caesar self-propelled howitzers and 24 light tanks will be handed over to the Ukrainian military. Paris will further hand over military trucks, antitank guided missiles and radars to Kiev in 2024.

Macron does not Exclude to Resign as French President, French radio Europe 1 reports
Emmanuel #Macron is discussing with his entourage the possibility of #resigning as President of France if the “pro-Russian” forces win. Radio station Europe 1 reports this. According to the publication, defeat in the parliamentary elections could force the French leader to take a desperate step. "The resignation of the president is not taboo. Yes, today we have to consider all scenarios," Europe 1 quotes an unnamed source.

Macron’s party suffered a crushing defeat in the elections to the #European Parliament. This fiasco forced the French President to announce the dissolution of the National Assembly and call for early parliamentary elections.

Analysts, assessing the chances of Macron’s party, agree that representatives of right-wing forces, who are considered pro-Russian in the Elysee Palace, will win the parliamentary elections in the country.

More, Emmanuel Macron has recently advocated not only for the continuation of arms supplies to the Kyiv regime, but also openly declared his intention to send units of the French army to #Ukraine. Moreover, Paris even tried to create a corresponding coalition of several European states. In particular, according to the French leader’s idea, #Germany was supposed to take part in it.
However, #Berlin did not appreciate this idea and refused to send Bundeswehr #troops to Ukraine.

Lavrov slams Paris' claims about absence of French instructors in Ukraine as lies

The statements of the official #Paris that there are no French instructors in #Ukraine are nothing but lies, #Russian Foreign Minister Sergey #Lavrov said.

"Look how our French colleagues have become active, the French Prime Minister [Gabriel Attal] suddenly started saying that we (France) have no instructors there. This is not true, and they know it," he told reporter Pavel Zarubin.

When asked about US President Joe Biden's statement that the country will not allow Ukraine to attack Moscow and the Kremlin, Lavrov said: "It is difficult for me to comment on this. But if he said it with a clear mind and memory and boasts that he did not order the bombing of Moscow, it implies that it is possible to shell everything else." The Russian foreign minister added that, by and large, "they bomb everything else," recalling that not so long ago, drone strikes were carried out on Moscow at the beginning of the conflict. "Then no one then stopped the regime of [Ukrainian President] Zelensky. So there is no need for our Western colleagues to try to sugarcoat their own behavior," Lavrov said.

The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) was being held on June 5-8. This year’s theme was "The Formation of New Areas of Growth as the Cornerstone of a Multipolar World." The event was organized by the Roscongress Foundation. The West has heard and understood Russian President Vladimir Putin's words about possible deliveries of Russian weapons to other regions of the world in response to the delivery of weapons to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Ukraine’s Syrsky approves admission of French instructors to military training centers

Commander-in-Chief of #Ukraine’s armed forces Alexander #Syrsky has signed documents that will allow #French instructors to visit #training centers.

"I welcome France's initiative to send instructors to Ukraine to train Ukrainian servicemen. I have already signed documents that will allow the first French instructors to visit our training centers soon and familiarize themselves with their infrastructure and personnel," he wrote on his Telegram channel following online talks with French Armed Forces Minister Sebastien Lecornu. Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov also took part in the negotiations.

Syrsky expressed hope that Kiev's other Western partners would join Paris' initiative.

Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out the possibility of sending Western countries’ ground troops to the zone of the special military operation. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky supported this idea, admitting that he could not publicly ask Western partners to send troops to the country, but would like them to do so and would never refuse.

The chief of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, Sergey Naryshkin, said that according to Moscow's sources, this contingent could reach 2,000 men. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted that French instructors along with other representatives of military and special services of European countries were already functioning in Ukraine.

Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the appearance of foreign military contingents in Ukraine would be fraught with extremely negative consequences, including irreparable ones.

[JUST IN] Again, France's Macron doesn’t rule out sending troops to Ukraine if Russia breaks front lines

French President Emmanuel #Macron does not rule out that sending troops to #Ukraine could be considered based on Kiev’s request if Russian forces broke through the front lines. "I’m not ruling anything out, because we are facing someone who is not ruling anything out. We have undoubtedly been too hesitant by defining the limits of our action," he said in an interview with The Economist, when asked if he stood by what he had said about possibly sending ground troops to Ukraine. The French leader pointed out that "many countries <...> understood" Paris’s approach and agreed "that this position was a good thing." - "If the Russians were to break through the front lines, if there were a Ukrainian request - which is not the case today - we would legitimately have to ask ourselves this question," Macron noted. "At the #NATO summit in the summer of 2022, we all ruled out the delivery of tanks, deep-strike missiles, aircraft. We are now all in the process of doing this, so it would be wrong to rule out the rest," he added.

Macron said on February 26 that some 20 Western countries taking part in a Paris meeting on further assistance for Kiev had discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. According to Macron, no consensus was reached on the issue but such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future.

Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (#SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin pointed out on March 19 that France was already training troops to be sent to Ukraine.

France-Russia relations hit rock bottom, says former envoy to Paris

Relations between Moscow and Paris have bottomed out, former Russian Ambassador to Paris Alexander #Orlov told the RFI radio station. "Our relations have never been as poor as they are now," Orlov said. He noted that recently French President Emmanuel Macron "has made a number of questionable moves that have increased the divide between France and Russia even further."

According to Orlov, these moves include the French leader's statement regarding the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine. "The second is the proposal for an Olympic truce during the games in Paris, where Russian athletes have not been invited," the former ambassador said. He also pointed to the "strange invitation of Russian representatives to the ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy without inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin." "Such a gesture can be seen as an insult," the diplomat added.

On February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that representatives of about 20 Western states raised the issue of sending group troops to Ukraine during the meeting in Paris. According to Macron, the participants were unable to reach a consensus on this issue.