Sputnik – French President Emmanuel Macron told Western allies there would be no need for NATO or US forces to enter the Ukrainian battlefield if Russia targeted French soldiers deployed in the area, US media reported on Wednesday ( 3), citing unidentified US authorities.
In late February, following a conference on Ukraine organized in Paris, Macron said that Western leaders discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine and, although no consensus was reached in this regard, nothing could be ruled out.
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US President Joe Biden’s administration is concerned about possible Russian attacks against any French forces stationed in Ukraine, as such circumstances could lead to France’s full involvement in the conflict along with other allies, the report says. However, Macron assured allies that there was no need for intervention by France’s allies, U.S. officials said.
In February, Macron held telephone conversations with Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, urging the allies to adopt a position of strategic ambiguity towards Russia that would allow them to keep all the military options of their policy of supporting Ukraine on the table. including the deployment of troops, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported.
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The French president asked allies to abandon their “red line” policy towards Russia, leaving it to Moscow to guess the West’s potential future steps, the newspaper reported, adding that this initiative contrasts with Biden’s approach of avoiding actions that could provoke Moscow and lead to an escalation of the crisis.
The United States and Germany rejected Macron’s initiative, saying it risked escalating hostilities, dividing allies and involving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the Ukrainian side of the conflict, the WSJ reported, adding that Scholz warned the French leader against making such ideas public.
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Following Macron’s statements after the Paris conference, other European Union (EU) countries rushed to reject such plans, with the German chancellor saying that NATO had no intention of sending its troops to Ukraine. The Kremlin, in response to Macron’s comments, said the deployment of Atlantic Alliance troops to Ukraine would make a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia inevitable.
According to Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an attack on an ally is considered an attack against the entire NATO, which allows adequate assistance to be provided to any member when attacked.
