“Stabilize the situation”: Italy did not support Macron’s statements about the possible sending of the military to Ukraine

NATO did not talk about direct participation in the conflict in Ukraine, since they are aware of the consequences of such a step.

This was stated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister of Italy Antonio Tajani in an interview with the newspaper Corriere della Sera.

“No one in NATO has ever talked about direct intervention; we know well what consequences a conflict that threatens nuclear escalation can have.

I will say more: NATO decided that Ukraine would be able to join the alliance only after the end of the conflict, because if accession were immediate, we would be forced to intervene to protect the attacked country of the alliance,” TASS quotes him as saying.

Tajani added that Rome does not understand the meaning of French President Emmanuel Macron's statements about the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine.

“We are on Ukraine’s side from the very beginning in terms of financial and economic assistance, including for reconstruction, as well as military (assistance. -

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) in terms of supplies of materials.

But we are not at war with Russia, there is no talk of any direct intervention of our military in this conflict,” the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry emphasized.

Provocative rhetoric

Let us recall that the discussion on the possibility of sending Western troops to Ukraine intensified after the February statement on this topic by French President Emmanuel Macron.

He stressed that such a scenario cannot be ruled out, but noted that there is no consensus on this issue yet.

After Macron’s words, a number of countries, including the USA, Germany and the UK, hastened to announce that they have no plans to deploy their troops in Ukraine.

Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also said that NATO does not plan to send military personnel to Ukraine.

However, despite the criticism, Macron subsequently clarified that his statement was thoughtful and carefully weighed.

At the same time, the head of France was supported in the Baltic states, Poland and the Czech Republic.

Later, during a visit to Lithuania, the head of the French Foreign Ministry, Stephane Sejournet, admitted that the military of the alliance countries could be sent to Ukraine to conduct mine clearance operations.

The diplomat clarified that “this may mean the presence of a certain number of personnel, but not for participation in hostilities.”

Despite attempts by French politicians to clarify Macron's position, the president repeated it again in an interview on March 14.

In particular, he believes that the security of Europe will be at risk if Ukraine is defeated in the conflict with Russia, and we need to be prepared for this.

“It must be said that we are ready to respond... If the situation worsens, we must be ready, and we will be ready,” Macron stressed.

He believes that Western countries must show determination and courage and say that they are ready to achieve their goal, namely that Russia does not win.

At the same time, the French leader emphasized that Paris will not take the initiative in the conflict in Ukraine.

“We will never go on the offensive, we will never take the initiative,” he explained.

Macron again added that “no options should be ruled out.”

After this, the Kremlin noted that Macron’s theses indicate that France wants to increase the degree of its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.

This was stated by the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov.

“We are reading Mr. Macron’s statements.

That Russia is an enemy - yes, for France this is obvious, because France is already involved in the war in Ukraine.

She, in fact, indirectly takes part in this war.

And, judging by Mr. President’s statements, he is not averse to increasing the degree of his involvement,” Peskov stated.

Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin linked Macron’s escalatory rhetoric with France’s foreign policy failures in Africa.

• Russian President Vladimir Putin and journalist Dmitry Kiselyov

• kremlin.ru

“Yes, I think there is some kind of resentment.

But when he (Macron -

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) and I maintained direct contacts, we spoke quite openly on this topic,” the Russian leader said.

Thus, Vladimir Putin answered the question of journalist Dmitry Kiselyov about whether Macron’s anti-Russian statements could be revenge for the fact that Russia “stepped on the tail” of France in Africa.

At the same time, the Russian President is confident that Paris has nothing to be offended by Moscow for.

"Distance from France"

Experts, in turn, believe that the current statements by the head of Italian diplomacy are nothing more than an attempt to defuse the situation, which has become very tense due to Macron’s anti-Russian rhetoric. 

“Italy is trying to stabilize the explosive situation that Macron created with his verbal demarches.

Russia is successfully conducting military operations on the line of contact and has repelled attempts by sabotage and reconnaissance groups to invade the territory of its regions.

Having assessed all this, in Rome they make it clear that they do not share the position of France and that there can be no talk of any direct military intervention by NATO in Ukraine,” Andrey, head of the department of political analysis and socio-psychological processes of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, explained in a conversation with RT Koshkin.

Despite the fact that Macron stubbornly continues to promote the idea that Russia must suffer military defeat, Europe clearly does not have the capabilities to implement such a scenario, the analyst believes.

“Europe does not yet have such resources.

So “conciliatory” statements began to pour in.

Italy wants to distance itself from France, to show that Macron is a madman who wants to almost attack Russia, and we, as sane people, are not going to do this,” says the political scientist.

At the same time, he does not rule out that Macron, on instructions from the United States, is testing the waters on the issue of sending Western troops to Ukraine.

“He spoke absolutely consciously.

Moreover, after his speech, Foreign Minister Sejournet confirmed that this was a thoughtful statement.

There is reason to believe that this is a Washington project due to the fact that Europe still does not want to actively support the conflict, as required by the United States.

Therefore, the American beneficiaries of NATO, through Macron, present such scenarios to the general public in order to gauge the level of support for possible actions.

So far, only the Baltic states have responded to this call.

Everyone else understands that this is, in general, madness that needs to be stopped.

Because participating in it is like death,” the analyst stated.

• Italian military

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Stefano Guidi

Professor of the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Vinokurov, for his part, called the statement of the head of the Italian Foreign Ministry very logical from the point of view of historical perspective.

“Italy, like Germany, at one time felt what it meant to enter into conflict with Russia based on the experience of the Great Patriotic War.

Macron’s words were quite unexpected for all other NATO members,” the expert believes.

According to him, helping with weapons or finances is one thing, and quite another is sending your armed forces to directly participate in hostilities. 

“This a priori provokes the danger of unleashing a third world war.

Macron was supported only in the Baltic states: they are traditionally ready to do anything to annoy Russia.

But sooner or later they will have to come to terms with the fact that for themselves the desire to defeat the Russian Federation will become truly destructive,” concluded Vinokurov.