French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed, on Tuesday, his support for the process of “setting a price ceiling” for Russian gas, noting that discussion of this issue will continue for the coming weeks, stressing that the Group of Seven countries are providing Kyiv with weapons for defense and not for attack.
Macron said during a press conference held after the G7 summit, that “the second issue that we must move forward is to do the same (put an end to the price) with Russian gas, and this is easier because it goes through pipelines … I support this (the proposal). ) Very much. We need to discuss this issue,” noting that “Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi supports this as well, meaning that there are many of us (supporting it). We will continue the discussion on this issue in the coming weeks.”
Emphasizing that all allies adhere to the “same line” about supplying Ukraine with weapons, Macron stressed that for defense, not offensive, he said:
“All allies follow the same line. We are providing weapons, equipment and ammunition to help the Ukrainians defend themselves on their territory, and not attack another region.”
The French president rejected calls by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky to declare Russia a “sponsor of terrorism”, stressing his rejection of this call and that he does not share “such a methodology.”
“On the question of qualifying (a state) as a sponsor of terrorism, I want to make it right (accurate). France does not share such a methodology, because we always seek to be guided by a legal approach.”
Macron stated that his country “will continue to supply weapons in the coming months,” referring to Paris’ plans to send six short, self-propelled guns in the near future, in addition to 12 that were delivered earlier.
The French president said that the European Union will invite countries from “Iceland to Ukraine” to participate in the future European political community, but that Russia will not be among them, as he claimed.
According to Macron, invitations will be sent to members of the European Economic Area, countries aspiring to join the European Union that have left the union, as well as countries of the Eastern Partnership, which includes the former Soviet Union republics. At the same time, Macron emphasized that the borders of the proposed future European political community in the east would “pass along the borders of Ukraine and Moldova”, with the exception of Russia.
Russia has previously sent a memorandum to the “NATO” countries because of the supply of arms to Ukraine.
The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, indicated that any shipment containing weapons destined for Ukraine would become a legitimate target for Russia.
In turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry considered that NATO countries are “playing with fire” by providing Ukraine with weapons.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated that Ukraine’s infusion of weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative impact.