Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy believes that “diplomacy, discussion and negotiation” is the only way how to resolve Russia’s war in Ukraine, reports Politico, citing an interview published in the French newspaper Le Figaro on Wednesday, the 16th of August.
During the interview, the ex-French president expressed the view that Europe ought to “define its strategy” and reach a middle ground, as opposed to pursuing the “strange idea” of funding a war without initiating it.
“Without compromise,” he said, “we [Europe] will not get very far, and we risk the situation deteriorating at any moment.” He stressed that this situation could lead to terrible consequences.
In the interview with Le Figaro, Sarkozy has called Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine “serious” and “a failure” but stressed that Russia is “Europe’s neighbour” and
“we need them, and they need us”.
Sarkozy stated that Macron’s initial intuition at the start of the war was correct, as Macron consistently called the Russian President to persuade him to back down.
He added that Macron had since changed tactics and promised to support Ukraine until victory, thus failing to follow his intuition, partly because of “pressure from the Eastern Europeans”.
Sarkozy also mocked Ukraine’s pursuit of EU membership, comparing it to Turkey’s failed attempt to join the Union.
“We are selling false promises that will not be kept”, he said.
He also questioned whether Ukraine should try to regain Crimea.
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