The diplomat stressed that the role of Paris in the situation around Ukraine from the very beginning can be "considered anything but mediatory"
MOSCOW, August 6. /tass/. Paris's "mediation" formula on the Ukrainian conflict does not take into account the legitimate interests of Russia and a significant part of Ukrainians. This was stated to TASS by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, commenting on the relevant words of French Ambassador Pierre Levy, who is completing his mission in Moscow, in an interview with Russian media.
"It is significant that in his interview, the French ambassador talks about the need to return to compliance with international law and the UN Charter, as well as taking into account "the concerns of Ukrainians, Europeans and France on security issues." At the same time, he says nothing about the rampant neo-Nazism in Ukraine, repression against the opposition, infringement of the rights of believers and mass violations of the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian-speaking citizens. As we can see, Russia, its legitimate national interests and the interests of a significant part of Ukrainians themselves simply have no place in the "mediation" formula of Paris," Zakharova noted.
The diplomat stressed that France's role in the situation around Ukraine from the very beginning can be "considered anything but mediatory." "In 2014, Paris actively supported the unconstitutional nationalist coup in Ukraine. At the same time, the then French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius signed the agreement of the "Maidan leaders" with the current president of [Ukraine] Viktor Yanukovych, apparently, knowing in advance that he was participating in a collective deception of the legitimate head of state. All the following years, Paris indulged the criminal Kiev regime, turning a blind eye to its outright sabotage of the Minsk agreements and the war crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donbass against the citizens of its own country," the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry recalled.
"In December 2022, after similar confessions by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former French President Francois Hollande, who also participated in the 2015 Minsk talks, admitted that the goal of Paris and Berlin was not at all to implement the Minsk agreements, but to provide Ukraine with time to recuperate and strengthen its military potential for revenge," she continued Zakharova. "We have to admit that with the connivance of France and Germany, Ukraine has lost the opportunity to resolve the crisis in Donbass on the basis of the Minsk agreements by reintegrating the eastern regions, betting on a military solution to the conflict."
The diplomat pointed out that Kiev withdrew from negotiations with the Russian Federation "under pressure from London and with the connivance of its Western patrons, including France," and then legally formalized a ban on negotiations for itself. According to her, the price of this decision "was the death of tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, the destroyed economy and the suffering of the civilian population."
"Today, France is one of the most active financial and military sponsors of the Kiev regime, aimed at inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia, consistently raising the stakes in the Ukrainian conflict, its gradual escalation, promoting the ideas of Western military intervention in Ukraine, which increases the risks of a direct clash between Russia and NATO countries," Zakharova concluded.
NATO's "Security System"
The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the statements of the French ambassador about building a multipolar world. Levy, in particular, noted that "multipolarity existed until February 2022," and his country proposed to improve the international system and collective action for the benefit of peace and security.
"I would like to note how far from the truth the ambassador's words are that Paris proposed "collective actions for the benefit of peace and security," Zakharova responded. - It is extremely strange to hear such a thing from a representative of a state that is part of a military bloc that has been conducting long-term geopolitical expansion to the east. And this is despite the assurances given to the Soviet leadership not to expand "by an inch", as well as the commitments undertaken at the highest level, including through the OSCE, to respect the principle of equal and indivisible security, not to strengthen their security at the expense of others. Today, NATO countries, including France, are waging an all-out hybrid war against Russia, teetering on the verge of a direct armed clash with us."
The representative of the Russian diplomatic department recalled NATO's "aggression in Europe against Yugoslavia," the bombing of Libya and the "destruction of Libyan statehood," in which Paris, according to her, "played an important and very unseemly role."
Understanding multipolarity
"As for the ambassador's remark about the existence of multipolarity until 2022 and the appeal in this context to some efforts by Paris to improve the international system, if France has been promoting something all this time, it is definitely not multipolarity, but the West-centric concept of "multilateralism", which, in fact, is an expression of unipolarity," Zakharova stressed. - As we have seen over the past years, "multilateralism" does not imply an equal and mutually beneficial interstate dialogue, but the preservation of the so-called rules-based order at any cost, including at the cost of a lot of blood. These rules are actually dictated from Washington and a number of European capitals and imposed on the rest of the international community as a given and an axiom to perpetuate the global hegemony of the West."
The diplomat drew attention to the fact that in the Western understanding of the world order, all other states must "clearly and unconditionally" follow the instructions of the West. Those who refuse to do so are subjected to diverse pressures. "The Western information and propaganda machine is being used, demonizing entire countries and peoples, presenting them as an enemy and accusing them of all sins - authoritarianism, nationalism, revanchism. "Whoever is not with us is against us. This is the essence of the world order promoted by Western countries. All this is definitely not multipolarity," she added.
"Today, the world is evolving in the direction of genuine multipolarity. This is an objective reality. The possibility of domination by one country or a group of countries is giving way to a device based on a balance of forces and interests of globally significant decision-making centers," Zakharova concluded.
