Nicolas Sarkozy, who pleads in Le Figaro for a Ukraine ” neutral “ and a referendum in order to“endorse” the annexation of Crimeacommits “a terrible mistake” And “must be considered a Russian influencer”, said Thursday, August 17, the ecologist deputy Julien Bayou. The river interview of the former Head of State, ahead of the publication of a new volume of his Memoirs, is “lunar” And “shocking”according to Mr. Bayou, who estimated on LCI that“a former president should not say that”.
“We understand it better when we know that it is bought by the Russians”added the former national secretary of Europe Ecology-The Greens, recalling on several occasions the links between Mr. Sarkozy and a Russian insurance company, the subject since 2021 of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office for possible ” Bribery “ And “laundering of a crime or misdemeanor”. Taking “the opposite of the French position on the annexation of Crimea” and in “sweep[ant] the war crimes of which the Russians are accused and [Vladimir] Poutine “the ex-president commits “a terrible mistake”insisted Mr. Bayou.
For the ecologist deputy, Mr. Sarkozy “should no longer be considered as a former President of the Republic but as a Russian influencer”in the same way as its former Prime Minister François Fillon, who for his part was paid by large Russian energy groups. “It’s not just anyone, not freelance consultants”noted Mr. Bayou, also referring to the links between Moscow and Marine Le Pen – who benefited from a loan from a Czech-Russian bank – and denouncing a “Russia’s grip on the elites, which is poison for our democracy”.
Nicolas Sarkozy delivered on a daily basis his analysis of the conflict in Ukraine, which, according to him, can only be resolved by “diplomacy, discussion”. About Crimea, “of which a majority of the population has always felt Russian”analyzes Mr. Sarkozy, “Any turning back is illusory”. Although the former president concedes that the annexation of Crimea in 2014 constitutes “a clear violation of international law”the only outcome would be a referendum “organized under the strict control of the international community (…) to confirm the current state of affairs, that is to say, the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. The same path should be explored for “disputed territories of eastern and southern Ukraine”.
As for the accession of Ukraine to the European Union or NATO, after the end of the conflict, the former head of state excludes it. For him, Ukraine should be ” neutral “because she has “vocation of a bridge between Europe and Russia”. “Asking Ukraine to choose between these two entities seems to me contrary to the history and geography of this complex region”, also says Mr. Sarkozy
“Unworthy of a former President of the Republic”
The declarations of the former head of state also caused his former collaborator Jérôme Poirot to react, who was his adviser at Bercy, then deputy to his intelligence coordinator at the Elysée and who castigated “shameful words”still on LCI. Mr Sarkozy “has no perspective on what happened” neither “about what he did” during his mandate, he observed, pointing out that his intervention in 2008 against the NATO memberships of Ukraine and Georgia had not prevented Russia from invading this Caucasian country, a few months later late.
When the former president explains that he was right because he “knew[t] the red lines of [Vladimir] Putin, but we fall out of his chair”Mr. Poirot wonders: “What were President Sarkozy’s red lines? What was the vision he had of the security of France? (…) Simply satisfy the wishes of Vladimir Putin? » As for “money collected from Russian interests” – 3 million euros for his contract with the insurer, but also 300,000 euros for a conference at the end of 2018 – “It is unworthy of a former President of the Republic”judged Mr. Poirot.
Among the elected representatives of the presidential camp, only the deputy of Yvelines Natalia Pouzyreff (Renaissance) had commented publicly on the remarks of Mr. Sarkozy, Thursday noon. According to Mme Pouzyreff, the option of ” discuss with [Vladimir] Poutine “It is ” No “considering that“by invading his neighbor on February 24, 2022, the head of the Kremlin quite simply committed the irreparable”, she claimed on X (Twitter).