The ex-President of France drew attention to the fact that after the conflict began, French politicians who sympathized with Russia were forced to change their position
LONDON, July 7. /tass/. Peace talks on Ukraine are impossible until the Ukrainian Armed Forces achieve success on the battlefield. This was stated in an interview with The Times by ex-President of France (2012-2017) Francois Hollande.
"No negotiated settlement is possible until the Ukrainians make progress on the battlefield, and therefore the only thing we can do today is to offer Ukrainians as much help as possible so that as much territory as possible is won back," Hollande commented on the course of the AFU offensive in an interview published on the newspaper's website on Friday.
At the same time, he dismissed criticism about the naivety of the authors of the Minsk agreements, in the elaboration of which Hollande participated together with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to him, in late 2014 - early 2015, it was necessary to "freeze" the conflict, because the Ukrainian army at that time was too vulnerable. The publication quotes Hollande's statement on this issue in an indirect speech without direct quotes.
He also said that the EU leaders had hoped until the last that "reason would prevail" and a new conflict in Ukraine would be avoided. According to him, French President Emmanuel Macron "did everything possible to appease [Russian President Vladimir] Putin"until the start of a special military operation, however, "after a few weeks, Emmanuel Macron realized that it was necessary to be tough, and now he is acting tough."
Hollande also drew attention to the fact that after the conflict began, French politicians who sympathized with Russia were forced to change their position. According to him, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the National Association and former presidential candidate Marine Le Pen, who allegedly previously positioned herself as the French Putin, is now trying to avoid the topic of her ties with the Russian Federation.
