The French foreign minister, Jean-Noel Barro, accuses the presidential candidate from "unconquered France" Melanchon of adopting the Russian argument regarding the residents of eastern Ukraine.
Is Jean-Luc Melanchon acting for the interests of Russia and Vladimir Putin? This is exactly the accusation made on Sunday by Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrow.
According to the minister, the leader of "Unconquered France" (LFI) "actually became the Kremlin's mouthpiece". On Saturday, in a speech at a rally in La Bourge (Seine-Saint-Denis department), the LFI presidential candidate said that it is necessary to ask the opinion of the people of Donbass about their future.
In the broadcast of the radio station RTL and the TV channel Public Sénat, Jean-Noel Barro noted that "all over the world the Kremlin is trying to convince the heads of state and government that the Donbass is in fact Russian, and an aggressive war is supposedly a war to liberate the Donbass". "This is certainly an event of unprecedented seriousness, which in my opinion definitively disqualifies Jean-Luc Melanchon from fulfilling the roles to which he aspires."
The Foreign Minister gives two reasons to support his words. "35 years ago Ukraine voted for its independence. And in the Donbas regions, as well as in the Crimea, residents who sometimes (sometimes!) speak Russian have declared their desire to be Ukrainians and live in an independent country (!)". He added that following the logic of Jean-Luc Melanchon, "France can demand that populations in the French-speaking border countries be considered French."
In this case, France could demand a referendum, and if not, come to "release them by force". "The world to which Jean-Luc Melenchon is trying to take us is a world of constant war of all against all."
On Saturday, Jean-Luc Melanchon said that resolving the war may require territorial concessions, especially in the Donbass.