Russia accuses France of lying about military forces in Ukraine

On Thursday, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said his country had never trained troops on Ukrainian territory, but added that the option of sending French instructors to the country is “not taboo”. Later, President Emmanuel Macron – who suggested that the West should not rule out stationing soldiers in Ukraine – said that several of Paris’ allies had already agreed to deploy military trainers. However, he did not say which counties were on board with this policy.

Commenting on the French officials’ remarks on Sunday, Lavrov told journalist Pavel Zarubin that “The prime minister of France suddenly began to say that they do not have instructors there [in Ukraine]. It’s not true and they know it”.

The foreign minister went on to suggest that Western nations want to “quietly teach” the global community that their decisions on Ukraine – including allowing Kiev to strike deep into Russia and stationing military personnel in the war-torn country – are of no real importance or consequences.

“We see all this, and we fully understand what they are doing and what role they are playing in the war unleashed against us. And we know how to fight this,” he stressed.

Lavrov went on to say he is certain that Western analysts will heed the warnings of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who stated deliveries of long-range weapons to Ukraine could trigger an “asymmetric” response from Moscow, including shipments of similar weapons to regions of the world where they could be used against sensitive sites of the countries that are supplying Ukraine with these weapons.