Last week, Germany said it was ready to receive Russian defectors, rejecting the ongoing partial mobilization in Russia. This election has not yet been followed by France, and should not be in the coming weeks, according to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, interviewed on BFMTV from kyiv on Tuesday.
“We are going to discuss it among Europeans”, Catherine Colonna answers first, “the fact is that the announcement of the partial mobilization does not arouse enthusiasm in the Russian population or in the Russian youth”.
“Each file may, where appropriate, be examined”
He recalls that the European Union agreed at the end of August “that we continue to open our doors to Russians who deserve it, that is, not to regime henchmen and warmongers, but to a certain number of Russian citizens who can and should still have access to the outside.
“In this context, visas can continue to be granted,” he explains, and as regards the right to asylum, “each file may, where appropriate, be examined, as always on the basis of a situation to check whether the person requesting the right of asylum meets the criteria of the Geneva Convention”.
Therefore, France intends, for the time being, to use only the usual and already known ways of welcoming foreigners and refugees to come to the aid of Russians seeking to leave the territory. “We will not make any other policy than that of reception according to international conventions as we practice them today,” declared the minister.
He then refers to future discussions between Europeans on the subject.
“A message of friendship and support” to Ukraine
The minister also recalled in passing that the ongoing referendums in the Ukrainian regions occupied by the Russian army were a “masquerade”. “They have no legitimacy, they have no value, we are not going to recognize them,” he reiterated.
Catherine Colonna also condemned the nuclear threat put forward in recent days by Russia, which has shown “gestures of escalation that undoubtedly reflect the difficulties it is encountering on the ground in Ukraine.” The minister also recalls “that the powers officially in possession of nuclear weapons must behave responsibly.”
She, as expected, renewed the assurance of the help that France will bring to Ukraine in this war and explained that she wanted to bring to kyiv “again a message of friendship and support.” During her meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, the discussion thus revolved around aid on “humanitarian, economic and also military plans” provided by France and Europe.
Source: BFM TV
