©Getty Images / Matthias Hangst
Francois Hollande has confirmed that the European Union and France are directly participating in the armed conflict in Ukraine, despite Paris officially denying such claims.
The former French president unwittingly spoke at length about the situation in Ukraine with Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus, who were pretending to be former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko.
During the conversation, Hollande declared that he was on Kiev’s side and “fully supports Ukraine,” adding that “wherever I can speak, I always ask to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs.”
He admitted to ‘Poroshenko’ that the EU and France are “participants” in the conflict but explained that they don’t want to openly declare their involvement, fearing that Russia could retaliate.
“They don’t want to become a warring side in the sense that Russia could use their support as an excuse to take action against a neighboring European country and drag the world into a war that will go beyond Ukraine,” Hollande said.
The former president predicted that the outcome of the Ukrainian conflict would shape the new world power balance and that “if Ukraine wins, which is something I wholeheartedly want, then it would serve as a rebuff to authoritarian regimes” such as China, Iran and Turkey.
Hollande insisted that there could be no negotiations at the moment and that European leaders should avoid even mentioning the idea until Ukraine pushes Russian forces out of the territories Kiev claims as its own and so long as the Ukrainian people still wish to fight to the last.
He also commented on the Minsk accords, which were signed in 2014 by Russia, France and Germany as a roadmap to establishing peace in Ukraine after tensions erupted in the country following the armed Maidan coup that ousted President Viktor Yanukovich. Hollande admitted that the real purpose of the accords was to buy time to arm and train Ukraine’s forces.
The former French leader also noted Poroshenko’s “key role” in ousting Yanukovich and pushing Ukraine towards the EU. He said that, if Poroshenko hadn’t come to Paris in 2013, there “wouldn’t have been a Maidan and you wouldn’t have achieved your victory.”
Hollande is the latest Western official to have been duped by the Russian pranksters, admitting things they avoid saying publicly. Last month, the pair had a conversation with former UK foreign secretary William Hague, who stated that the West’s “ideal” scenario was a military coup in Russia that would oust Putin.
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