“That’s why I went to Romania on Thursday. We clearly discussed this issue with our Romanian partners”, explained the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly on France Inter radio, with President Macron on 19 January “Availability After the announcement of France to engage “on new missions”, “particularly in Romania”.

The country, bordering Ukraine and having access to the Black Sea, is an “area of ​​high tension” because Russia and Ukraine also have a “frontage”, “at the center of tension” and therefore “confident”. “Should be. Ms. Parly.

Sending a force to Romania “we will have a meeting with NATO members very soon” and “we are preparing ourselves so that as soon as we are asked to deploy (including)”, “in consultation with other European partners “And the country”, he continued.

Paris intended to send “several hundred men” and wanted to “be the framework nation for this force which would thus be deployed in Romania”, as the United Kingdom currently commands a NATO battalion in Estonia, with French forces. Specifies the minister. It’s about assurance as part of a defensive alliance,” she insisted.

for the maintenance of the ceasefire

The head of diplomacy, Jean-Yves Le Drian, for his part, announced on Twitter on Saturday that he would be visiting Ukraine “on February 7 and 8” with his German counterpart Annalena Baierbock.

“I assured Dmitry Kuleba (Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, editor’s note) of our full support and solidarity with Ukraine. Our mobilization continues, especially in the Normandy format, to de-escalate tensions”, he said. said.

Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany held discussions in Paris on Wednesday in a quadrilateral format called “Normandy” for the first time since September 2021. They then agreed that a ceasefire between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine should be maintained. A similar meeting is to be held in Berlin in February.

(with AFP)