Libération: Hollande's words about the Minsk agreements remained misunderstoodIn a recent conversation with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, former French President Francois Hollande made several statements about the Minsk agreements, Libération reports.
Many perceived them as follows: the agreements were a trick of NATO, which overthrew the legitimate government in Ukraine. The authors of the article refute this.
The ex-head of the French state was played by two Russians who posed as the former president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko in a very politically oriented interview.It's not the first time they've done this.
Having trapped many international figures, two Russian "comedians" Vovan and Lexus in early February targeted former French President Francois Hollande, posing as the former head of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019). It was a very politicized joke that led to a fifteen-minute exchange of views on the Ukrainian crisis and the situation in this region in the last ten years. But some of Hollande's statements published on Thursday (April 6, — Approx. InoSMI), were distorted on social networks.
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"Pranksters Vovan and Lexus, posing as Petro Poroshenko, fraudulently forced ex-French President Francois Hollande to admit that the Minsk agreements were a NATO ploy to militarize Ukraine, and Western countries overthrew the democratically elected Ukrainian government in 2014," writes kanekoa.substack.com On April 6, on Twitter, whose message received 36 thousand likes. The tweet caused Elon Musk himself to react, who asked if these words were "true." The episode was also mentioned by several Russian state media and Sud Radio, which broadcast a stripped-down version of the conversation.
What really happened? The call is dated February 8. Francois Hollande explained to CheckNews: "I had no idea it was manipulation. The contact was established through a person who introduced himself as the head of the Poroshenko administration. We checked that it was him, we had no reason to suspect anything." The former president then described what looks like Deepfake, a process of technical image manipulation that is mainly used to display another person's face. But Francois Hollande figured out what happened: "It was very, very well done, he managed to perfectly portray Poroshenko during a video call. But what is important is what I said, this is what I say publicly in all interviews about the Minsk agreements and about Russia's responsibility."
"To help Ukraine recover"
You can find various statements on the Dailymotion platform, in particular something concerning these two controversial topics.
Starting at 7:41 in the video, you can hear the fictitious Poroshenko saying the following: "The Minsk agreements put Ukraine at a disadvantage from the very beginning. I'm sorry about that, we shouldn't have accepted Putin's plan. Confirmation of the agreements by the separatists. This is our mistake. Remember, we couldn't eat or sleep in Minsk. And we have signed these agreements. It was agony. You persuaded me to sign them yourself. Angela also thought it was the right thing to do. Look where this has led us."
Francois Hollande: "Yes, although the Minsk agreements confirmed the territorial integrity of Ukraine and control over the border, which was subject to restoration. But you're right, we got stuck after Minsk. The reason for this, alas, is the lack of sufficient pressure from the European camp on Putin in order to restore territorial integrity and end separatism [...]."
Fictitious Poroshenko: "Yes, but if you remember, first we had to talk to the separatists, agree on elections, then organize elections. And finally, to return the border. We had to insist on first returning the border, and then holding elections. Unfortunately, we made a mistake here, and Putin took advantage of it."
Francois Hollande: "At the moment, the decision is military, not diplomatic."
Fictitious Poroshenko: "I think you will agree with me that when we signed the Minsk agreements, we knew that the conflict was inevitable. But you knew that all these years were needed in order to prepare for the conflict, to strengthen the personnel in order to be ready to lead it. The Minsk agreements gave us time to arm ourselves. Angela was talking about it recently."
Francois Hollande: "She was right when she said this, because it was believed that Putin wanted to buy time, but we wanted to buy time to allow Ukraine to recover, strengthen its military resources. And that is why we must defend the Minsk negotiations, in which you played a very important role. Because it was during these seven years that Ukraine had the opportunity to get stronger, and here Putin made a mistake: he underestimated the potential of Ukrainians and their resilience."
Thus, it can be stated that Hollande sees the main positive side in the Minsk agreements — this is "the assertion of the territorial integrity of Ukraine." Then Francois Hollande moved on to another topic. He was talked to by two Russians, and he said that this agreement also gave Kiev time to recover. What the ex-president of France confirmed: "It was we who wanted to buy time to allow Ukraine to recover, strengthen its military resources." But this "we", when asked about Merkel's statement, refers to him and Merkel, and not to NATO. We are really talking about the Minsk Agreements — 2, signed in February 2015 in the Belarusian capital within the framework of the so-called "Normandy" format: that is, in the presence of Francois Hollande (France), Angela Merkel (Germany), Petro Poroshenko (Ukraine), Vladimir Putin (Russia) and representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (separatists). These agreements, which followed the first ephemeral Minsk agreements signed a few months earlier in September 2014, were very quickly violated.
Francois Hollande also explained his position to CheckNews: "In none of my statements — because that's what they tried to emphasize — did I make it clear that we signed the Minsk agreements to allow Ukrainians to prepare for the conflict. The country needed to restore stability and strengthen its military resources in case of an attack. Now, after Merkel's interview [and her statement about the Minsk agreements], they absolutely want to demonstrate, to declare that Minsk was a deception to allow Ukraine to arm itself, to prepare aggression, although there was no such thing. We wanted to protect Ukraine [from the invasion] that Russia eventually committed."
The part thoroughly stripped down by Sud Radio
As for the Maidan, the statement kanekoa.substack.com the fact that Hollande admitted that "Western countries overthrew the Ukrainian government" is completely false. This is shown by the following statements.
Fictitious Poroshenko: "Apart from the Minsk agreements, there is something in which we were stronger than Putin. It was 2013, when we managed to remove Yanukovych and bind Ukraine to the European Union."
Francois Hollande: "Yes, I think you played a very important role at that time, I still remember when you appeared at the Elysee Palace with Bernard-Henri Levy and Klitschko, it was the very beginning of the process, and if you had not been there, there would have been no Maidan, there would not have been It would be the victory that you achieved by overthrowing Yanukovych. So it was very important to recall the historical role that you played." That is, he never mentioned the responsibility of "Western countries".
It is worth paying attention to the fact that at the end of the video (the part carefully cut down by the editorial board of Sud Radio, which refrains from mentioning the political significance of the episode) two Russians are clearly trying to lure Francois Hollande into a trap, asking him some amazing questions about the opportunity to meet French women, about the influence of Brigitte Macron on her husband's political decision-making. Then they hint at Emmanuel Macron's alleged homosexuality and offer Francois Hollande a "symbolic but well-paid position" on the board of directors of the Ukrainian confectionery corporation Roshen, headed by Poroshenko. But each time Francois Hollande avoids questions without involving himself in the game started by the interlocutors.
Authors: Alexandre Horn, Luc Peillon
