Eurasia Press & News
In statements over the weekend, the leaders of France and Czechia warned against seeking Russia’s total collapse after the war in Ukraine, saying it would be problematic for Europe and instead called for its defeat.
In an interview with Journal du Dimanche, France inter and Le Figaro, on Saturday evening after the Munich Security Conference, French President Emmanuel Macron set out his vision of the conflict in Ukraine, almost a year after the Russian invasion.
He said Russia should be defeated but opposed the position of those who think “that Russia should be totally defeated, attacked on its soil”.
“These observers want, above all to crush Russia. This has never been the position of France, and it never will be,” he said, expressing a more nuanced position than in June when he was criticised for saying that Russia should not be “humiliated”.
“What is needed today is for Ukraine to carry out a military offensive that disrupts the Russian front to trigger a return to negotiations,” he said, as, according to Macron, “in the end, it will not be settled militarily […] considering that neither side can win entirely.”
Macron believes in a strategy of “deterrence through European rearmament”, which cannot be limited to purchasing weapons.
“We must also be able to produce them and build our security architecture without having to delegate it to others, the Americans or the Chinese,” he said, adding that “this European sovereignty that alone will ensure our independence and our security”.
“Europe will be more easily respected if it has weapons. It is also a way of accelerating the European component of NATO,” he said.
“Macron’s word has no value”, Kremlin spokeswoman Maria Zakharova commented on Sunday.
A problem for Europe
Meanwhile, Czech President-elect Petr Pavel made similar statements warning that if Russia collapses following the war in Ukraine, Europe could face many problems as there will be nobody to negotiate security guarantees with.
Pavel, who is set to be sworn in as president on 9 March, spoke at the Munich Security Conference and warned of the over-optimism in case Russia collapses after the war.
Reacting in particular to Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to kneel and ask for forgiveness in case Russia loses the war, Pavel called for “caution in assessing potential outcomes of this conflict.”
“It is not about expecting the best; it is about being ready for the worst,” he added.
Pavel also warned that in case of the Russian state collapse, there would be “no one to negotiate the security guarantee with” and “nobody to work with on the future security architecture in Europe”.
“With a collapsed Russia, we will have lots and lots of problems that we do not consider now,” he said.
However, Pavel – former head of the NATO military committee – strongly supports Ukraine, including strengthening Ukrainian air defence systems.
During the conference in Munich, Pavel said that “whatever we can deliver, we should do it now”, as he expects more air operations from Russia in the upcoming weeks.
