DISINFO: Macron's statements intended to drag France into war with Russia

DISINFORMATION CASE DETAILS

DISINFO: Macron's statements intended to drag France into war with Russia

SUMMARY

French President Emmanuel Macron, with his statement about Russia's alleged impending attack on Europe, intended to drag the French into a world war.

Many states support Russia because of its clear anti-imperialist and anti-colonialist position. Moscow prefers to communicate with everyone on an equal basis and makes every effort to protect international legal norms, while “some well-known countries” are trying to impose their own rules on the world.

RESPONSE

On 26 February 2024, the French president Emmanuel Macron said "no option should be discarded" to bolster military support for Kyiv at a conference attended by leaders of Ukraine's allies, but recognized there was "no consensus".

"There is no consensus today to send troops on the ground in an official, accepted and endorsed manner," Macron said. "But no option should be discarded. We will spare no effort to ensure that Russia does not emerge victorious in this conflict." On the subject of the possible participation of French troops in potential ground operations, Macron assumed a "strategic ambiguity": "I absolutely did not say that France was not in favor of it," he observed.

The aim of such a statement was to discourage Russia from further escalation of the invasion of Ukraine. France like many other states are assisting Ukraine in its self defence.

By contrast, Moscow has used explicit threats, including mention of crossing a “red line” in September 2022 if the United States supplied longer-range missiles to Ukraine, as well as implicit threats such as frequent reference to Russia’s nuclear doctrine. Russia has also used disinformation campaigns, exercises, and new nuclear force deployments to Belarus to manipulate risks and attempt to weaken Western support for Ukraine.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine violates the UN Charter. Most countries in the world and most developing countries in particular condemn Moscow’s unprovoked and unjustified aggression and demand that Russian troops leave Ukraine.

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on 2 March 2022 demanding that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.” It was adopted with 141 votes in favour of the motion, 5 against and 35 abstentions.

On 12 October 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia’s attempted annexation of Ukraine’s territory. The results were 143 member states in favour, five votes against and 35 abstentions.

On 23 February 2023, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for an immediate end to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. 141 member states were in favour, 7 against and 32 abstained from voting. Judging by these results, it is evident that most countries support Ukraine and condemn Russia’s aggression.

At that, pro-Kremlin media spread conspiracies that Russia's war in Ukraine is the fault of the US and also on the golden billion ruling the world.

Disclaimer

Cases in the EUvsDisinfo database focus on messages in the international information space that are identified as providing a partial, distorted, or false depiction of reality and spread key pro-Kremlin messages. This does not necessarily imply, however, that a given outlet is linked to the Kremlin or editorially pro-Kremlin, or that it has intentionally sought to disinform. EUvsDisinfo publications do not represent an official EU position, as the information and opinions expressed are based on media reporting and analysis of the East Stratcom Task Force.

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