Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the command of the French Foreign Legion in early March approved the composition of the battalion-tactical group to be sent to the territory of the former Soviet republic.
According to Maria Zakharova, the military of France in the composition of about 1.5 thousand people can be put on alert for deployment to Ukraine as early as in April.
“New information is emerging about the preparation by Paris of a military contingent to be sent to Ukraine. To this end, the command of the French Foreign Legion in early March approved the composition of a battalion-tactical group of about 1,500 people,” Zakharova said. – It is expected that in April the group will be brought to a state of full combat readiness for an operational rush to the Ukrainian theatre of military operations”.
The diplomat recalled that France had previously participated in the removal of Byzantine icons from Ukraine, citing the need to store them, and the ideas of sending troops to help Kiev only continue this trend.
“Meanwhile, the French are continuing the part of their history that should actually be forgotten – the cause of their ancestors, who were engaged in the clandestine removal from Ukraine of cultural property, including ancient Byzantine icons for their alleged, as they formulate it, preservation in France,” the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal quoted unnamed officials as saying that French President Emmanuel Macron had assured his North Atlantic allies that if Paris decided to invade Ukraine and French soldiers were hit by a Russian strike, the head of the “Fifth Republic” would not demand help from the USA and NATO.
