Nicolas Sarkozy’s plea for a “neutral” Ukraine and a referendum supposed to “endorse” the annexation of Crimea arouses flurry of criticism from politicians and experts who consider the ex-president’s remarks “shameful” and the accuse of being “bought” by Putin’s Russia.
Back in the media with a new volume of his memoirs – before his appeal trial in the Bygmalion case in the fall – the former Elysée tenant unleashed a storm in the middle of summer.
In a river interview with Figaro posted online Wednesday at the end of the day, the ex-president denounces in all directions the choices of his successors, from immigration to suburban riots and from the Sahel to Ukraine.
Even if it means putting oneself at odds with French diplomacy by defending the “compromise” with Moscow, even at the cost of Crimea for which, he says, “any backtracking is illusory”.
The aftershocks were quick. Julien Bayou opened fire on Thursday morning: “A former president should not say that”, estimated the ecologist deputy on LCI, castigating a “lunar” and “shocking” interview.
Nicolas Sarkozy commits “a terrible fault”, but “we understand it better when we know that he is bought by the Russians”, he added, referring to the links between Mr. Sarkozy and a Russian insurance company.
A contract worth three million euros, the subject since 2021 of an investigation by the national financial prosecutor’s office for “influence peddling” and “crime or offense laundering”. Further proof of “the influence of the elites by Russia” according to Mr. Bayou, in the same way as the oil activities of François Fillon and the bank loan of Marine Le Pen.
Also in the majority, MEP (Renew) Nathalie Loiseau deplored on X (ex-Twitter) “the dependence of part of the European political class on the views of Vladimir Poutine”, while her Belgian colleague Guy Verhofstadt wonders whether to “laugh or cry” at Mr. Sarkozy’s statements, emblematic of “tragic errors” vis-à-vis a Russia that has become “a terrorist state”.
Nicolas Sarkozy’s analysis “powerfully illustrates the confusion of the French elite on Russia and once again weakens the voice of our nation in Europe. Pathetic”, lamented the MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, an ally of the Socialist Party.
The official line has not changed: “France’s position on the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine is well known,” said the Quai d’Orsay.
“As long as necessary, France and the European Union will be present alongside the Ukrainians,” said Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade, chairman of the European Affairs Committee at the Palais Bourbon.
The Ukrainian power expects no less, rejecting any hint of a referendum and blaming the “criminal logic” of Mr. Sarkozy, who “justifies the war of aggression” of the Kremlin, which amounts to “direct complicity”, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The tone is very different in Moscow, where former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev who, as such, rubbed shoulders with Nicolas Sarkozy welcomed his “bold and fair statements”.
Specialists in international relations were also circumspect, like François Heisbourg who judges that this “shameful pro-Putin interview” could “get in trouble” the former French president, “and not only politically”.
A member like him of the Foundation for Strategic Research, Bruno Tertrais joked about an interview that “could make you laugh, cry or arouse commiseration”.
Before referring to a former collaborator of Mr. Sarkozy who “hits very hard”: the former deputy coordinator of intelligence Jérôme Poirot condemned on LCI the remarks of the former head of state who according to him “didn’t no hindsight on what happened” or “on what he did” during his mandate.
The invasion of Georgia in 2008, despite his intervention to block NATO membership of this Caucasian country, does not prevent him from asserting today that he knew “Putin’s red lines”.
“We fall from his chair”, was offended Mr. Poirot, questioning: “What were the red lines of President Sarkozy? What was the vision he had of the security of France? (…) Simply to satisfy Vladimir Putin’s wishes?”
08/18/2023 08:55:41 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
