France’s decision to expand military assistance to Ukraine and supply an unnamed number of AMX-10RC wheeled tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine caused some bewilderment in the West. The British media almost announced a split in NATO, since Paris made this decision without consultations. What guided the previously cautious Emmanuel Macron?
The delivery declared by the French does not seem to go beyond what was done by the West earlier. Armored cars were sent to the Armed Forces of Ukraine even before the start of the special operation, and the AMX-10RC is a heavy armored car armed with a tank-caliber gun (105 mm), but relatively low-powered.
However, the very proud name “wheeled tank” allows us to consider the French-Ukrainian deal as the opening of a fundamentally new stage in the armament of Ukraine.
The news from Paris immediately intensified talk about deliveries to Kyiv of not wheeled, but real Leopard tracked tanks. The President of Ukraine Zelensky has been demanding (namely, demanding) such tanks since March last year, and the Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny said in December that “for victory” (whatever that means) he urgently needs 300 tanks. Now these dreams are gradually approaching reality.
Macron’s move certainly provoked an escalation in the conflict in Ukraine and in Russia’s already dangerously tense relations with the West. The question is, why did the previously cautious French leader, who was ranked among the “doves” of the European Union, need this? There seem to be two main reasons.
First, Macron is correcting his image as a supporter of a peaceful solution to the Ukrainian conflict with a “minus” sign. It is widely believed in the West that Macron’s position as a politician who wants to negotiate with Russia harms his position among NATO allies, where it is fashionable to be pro-Ukrainian and Russophobic.
Former French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, even before the start of the special operation, argued that the close contacts of the French president with the Russian entailed political risks for Paris. And Macron’s statements about the need to provide security guarantees to Russia caused a wave of indignation in the EU.
About Ukraine itself, where a rare publication escaped the temptation to emboss a caricature on the topic of Macron’s frequent phone calls to the Kremlin, in this regard, you can not even mention it. There, the President of France is demonstratively disliked.
Macron, on the contrary, wants to be loved. Not only in Paris, but also in Eastern Europe, for which Paris has its own plans. But what is more in this – an economic and political strategy or the need for the French leader to indulge his ego, is an open question.
Secondly, the President of France made a significant breakthrough in the informal competition of Western powers to provide assistance to Ukraine, bypassing the UK. In any case, this is the opinion of the authors of the article in the British The Daily Telegraph, which is called “How Macron took away the leadership in Ukraine from Britain.”
According to the British, decisions on the supply of fundamentally new types of weapons to the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not made on their own, but after agreement with partners, including at least the United States, Great Britain, France and Germany. But Macron allegedly neglected the need to coordinate positions, which offended the British authorities, who invest huge amounts of money in Ukraine and suffer significant inconvenience because of this.
Nevertheless, it seems that British journalists are somewhat exaggerating the extent of Macron’s damage to Euro-Atlantic unity.
On the one hand, and before it was clear that the supply of heavy military equipment to the authorities of Ukraine is a matter of time, not principle. One way or another, in the West, long before the special operation, Ukraine was considered a promising member of NATO, which means that sooner or later, NATO-style heavy equipment would appear in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the other hand, as a breakthrough the French gift is ambiguous.
Still, a wheeled tank is not tracked – neither in armament, nor in protection, nor in cross-country ability (although it surpasses it in speed and power reserve).
Finally, none of the Western leaders condemned Macron. Moreover, the United States promptly announced the supply of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. True, the publication of Washington’s plans followed immediately after Macron’s statement, most likely by accident, the decision was clearly made earlier.
In any case, it turns out that the position in the club of Western leaders is now determined not by the economic or military power of your state, but by the level of support for Ukraine. And British journalists take it as the norm.
True, they fundamentally refuse to talk about what will happen if the Zelensky regime loses. And in Britain, and in France, and in Germany, they do not believe that the bet on Kyiv can simply “burn out”, and the leader of the “friends of Ukraine” group will turn into the most senseless waste, which, as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, did not change situation in terms of the goals of the special operation, but prolonged the suffering of ordinary Ukrainians.
Vasily Stoyakin, VIEW
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