“This is absolutely not in the interests of these countries, they must be aware of that,” Peskov said on Tuesday in response to a statement by French President Emmanuel Macron. Several EU countries criticized Macron’s statement. Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) called for a “diplomatic perspective”.
The French head of state said on Monday evening that sending troops “might not be ruled out”. There is currently no consensus, Macron said at the end of an international Ukraine conference in Paris. “But nothing must be excluded in order to achieve the goal.” The goal is that Russia is not allowed to win. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal underlined Macron’s statements on Tuesday: “You can’t rule out anything in a war (…) in the heart of Europe,” Attal said on radio station RTL.
The fact that the possibility of ground troops is now being discussed is a “very important new element” in the conflict, Peskov emphasized on Tuesday. Macron’s statements go “in the opposite direction” to what is currently needed, namely a “diplomatic perspective,” criticized Schallenberg. “There was clearly no consensus at all on this in Paris yesterday,” he emphasized. “And it’s amazing when you go out with a topic that has no consensus and thereby create a debate that we don’t really need,” said the Foreign Minister in response to a question from the APA before departure for a four-day trip to the Middle East. which takes him to Israel, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.
Nehammer emphasized the position
Schallenberg emphasized that Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) made the Austrian position clear at the summit on Monday in Paris. “We also need a political, diplomatic perspective in this conflict once more. Sending troops is actually a signal in the opposite direction, even if one says that this is not an issue in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty,” said the Foreign Minister, referring to the obligation to provide assistance of NATO.
Macron’s statements were also met with cross-party rejection in Germany. Lower Saxony’s SPD Prime Minister Stephan Weil said on NDR that he was strictly once morest a corresponding mandate for the Bundeswehr. Criticism also came from the CDU, the Greens, the AfD and the Left Party. FDP defense expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann said Germany does not have to share Macron’s assessment; However, she praised the president as a “driver”, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) was a “slower”. “It’s not an issue at all. It’s not an issue in the discussion in Germany and not in an alliance,” said Green Party leader Omid Nouripour on Tuesday on ntv.
The Prime Ministers of the Czech Republic and Sweden, Petr Fiala and Ulf Kristersson, also expressed opposition to Macron’s statements regarding ground troops. The Czech Republic is not considering sending soldiers to Ukraine, said Fiala. For Sweden, sending Western soldiers to Ukraine is currently “not an issue,” said Kristersson. Currently, “we are busy sending advanced equipment to Ukraine.” Kristersson said there was no request from the Ukrainian side for ground troops.
Austria: No military aid
The EU’s only nuclear power, France, like several other European states, recently concluded security agreements with Ukraine. In view of the blockade of US military aid by the opposition Republicans and announcements by the likely Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he will not come to the aid of NATO partners in the event of an attack by Russia, the European allies are under particular pressure to strengthen their defense capacities once morest the aggressor state . As a neutral state, Austria does not participate in military aid to Ukraine.
