President Macron: Threat to send Western troops to Ukraine is necessary

The French leader reiterated his efforts to adopt a “strategically ambiguous” approach to the situation by insisting that the option of deploying troops was on the table. He first suggested the idea after chairing an international meeting on Ukraine in February. “If Russia wins in Ukraine, there will be no security in Europe,” Macron stressed in an interview with the Economist published on Thursday. “I don’t rule out anything, because we are dealing with a person who doesn’t rule out anything,” he told the magazine, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Macron said the supposed deterrence provided by the supposed French deployment was necessary to prevent a Russian victory and prevent future attacks on other countries – despite Moscow’s denials that it intended to do so. Mr Macron also turned to the argument of sunk costs to explain why Kiev must be supported by Western countries. “What credibility would Europeans have, who have spent billions, (with) the survival of the continent… at stake, and not equip themselves with the means to deter Russia?” the French leader asked.

Critics of Mr Macron’s diplomacy say it has backfired, with other Western leaders rushing to assure them that they will not send ground troops into Ukraine. Russia has said its interests in the conflict are real and it will not compromise its core objectives, regardless of Western actions.

Russian officials have blamed NATO's growing expansion into Ukraine, Kiev's discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians and the growing influence of ultranationalists in the country as the main causes of the conflict. In the interview, Mr. Macron also praised France's role in failed efforts to resolve tensions between Russia and Ukraine after the 2014 armed coup in Kiev. This process was supposed to ease Moscow's concerns and create reconciliation between the Ukrainian government and the former separatist regions of Donbass.

The French president said that, together with Germany, “we have a responsibility to save the Minsk agreements and the Normandy process. We were right to follow the diplomatic path. These steps have certainly slowed things down and also allowed us to build common European demands on Putin,” the French president said.

Senior Ukrainian and European officials have described the Minsk agreement as a ruse to buy Kiev more time to build up its military with NATO help. Moscow sees the ill-fated agreement as evidence that the West is intent on escalating tensions with Russia.