France does not seek the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine. This was stated by the representative of the French Foreign Ministry Ann-Claire Lyandr, commenting on the Kremlin’s reaction to the decision of the President of France Emmanuel Macron to transfer the long-range missiles of the long-range radius of action Scalp.
According to her, this step of Paris is aimed at strengthening the support of Ukraine “in the long run in the face of illegal aggression from Russia.”
Lyindr explained that this is the “entire subject of the discussions that are being conducted today [allies], in particular, at the NATO summit”.
The diplomat noted that the weapon supplied by France is not intended for an attack on the territory of Russia, but to protect the territory of Ukraine.
According to Lyandr, Paris adhered to this doctrine from the very beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.
She emphasized that the mentioned decision of Macron corresponds to this doctrine.
Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov called the “erroneous decision” to transfer France’s plans to transfer the distant radius missiles to Ukraine.
“Of course, it is still necessary to clarify and find out which radius is talking about. This, from our point of view, is a mistaken decision, fraught with consequences for the Ukrainian side, because, of course, this will force us to accept the countermeasures,” Peskov said .
The Kremlin representative emphasized that the decision of Paris will not affect the course of a “special military operation” in Ukraine. “Once again, we repeat the fundamental approach to such decisions: these decisions cannot, are not able to influence the course of events within the framework of the MO. They can only weight the fate of the Kiev regime,” he added.
The Minister of the Armed Forces of France Sebastien Lekornny in an interview with LCI also emphasized. that the missiles are intended for defensive purposes, and not for strikes on the territory of Russia.
At the same time, the minister refused to name the exact number of Scalp missiles supplied by Kyiv. He explained this by the fact that such information is strategic in nature.
The head of the department noted that the radius of the missiles is 250 km, and the SCALP modification with a range of 500 km is in the service of the Armed Forces of France.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said that Paris decided to transfer the distant radius missiles to Ukraine in order to support the advent of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.