Sarkozy's remarks on Ukraine criticized on the left, hailed in Russia

“Diplomacy, discussion and exchange.” This is the triptych put forward by Nicolas Sarkozy to get out of the war in Ukraine, which started more than a year ago. In his latest book, Le Temps des combats (Éditions Fayard), the former president calls in particular for maintaining good relations with Russia. When Ukraine must "remain neutral" by joining neither the European Union nor NATO, he said Wednesday in the columns of Figaro Magazine. On the subject of Crimea, annexed in 2014 by Russia, Nicolas Sarkozy believes that "any step back would be illusory", pleading instead for "an indisputable referendum" to "endorse the current state of affairs".

Words that immediately reacted on the left, where the former head of state was called to respect “a duty of reserve” even after the end of his mandate. Invited on Thursday on LCI, the ecologist deputy from Paris Julien Bayou thus denounced a “lunar” and “shocking” position taken by a former president who had become “a Russian influencer”. "Those who blindly relay the doctrine of the Kremlin are defending their interests, not those of France", scolded the former boss of EELV.

At the head of the Franco-Russian friendship group in the Assembly, the Renaissance deputy for Yvelines Natalia Pouzyreff for her part accused the former head of state of "rewriting history" by reaching out to the Kremlin. . "By invading his neighbor on February 24, 2022, Vladimir Putin has quite simply committed the irreparable", she commented on X (ex-Twitter), refusing any dialogue with the Russian leader. His colleague from Paris Pieyre-Alexandre Anglade reaffirmed French support for kyiv. “The future of Ukraine lies within the European project,” insisted the chairman of the European Affairs Committee.

The statements of the former head of state also reacted to his former collaborator Jérôme Poirot, who was his adviser at Bercy, then deputy to his intelligence coordinator at the Élysée and who castigated “shameful remarks”.

In Moscow, Nicolas Sarkozy's positions did not fail to delight the propaganda media. On the day of the interview's publication, the Tass and RIA Novosti news agencies hastened to headline respectively "Sarkozy believes that the situation with the supply of weapons to Kiev could become unmanageable", and "Sarkozy offered to organize a referendum in Crimea”. Means of feeding the narrative of the Kremlin which seeks to minimize its role as an aggressor. The daily Vedomosti also took up the statements of the former head of state on Crimea, as did the Telegram channel affiliated with the Wagner group, Redaction W. Proof of the echo of the former president, his remarks have resonated even in the precincts of the Russian Parliament, where a deputy from Sevastopol, Dmitry Belik, even proposed to Nicolas Sarkozy to lead a surveillance mission in Crimea. The Russian parliamentarian judging that he alone can "bring to the Western world the solution of wisdom: leave Crimea behind and forget forever his return to Ukraine". And to clarify to the RIA Novosti news agency: "Perhaps Sarkozy will return to the highest echelons of power, and therefore prepare the French for the fact that spending on Ukraine is useless now."