MOSCOW (Sputnik) — On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron in his address to the Congress of the Parliament highlighted importance of France playing a more significant role as a mediator in the settlement of international conflicts "from Mali to Ukraine."
"France is traditionally a power that counts on the international scene. We have forgotten about that a little bit because of the two latest mediocre presidencies of Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande. France has to continue its operations in Mali because it is its zone of influence. In Ukraine, however, there is nothing to expect from President Macron because he is completely subservient to the European Union and NATO," Lebreton said.
In 2014, Kiev authorities launched a military operation against militias in Ukraine's southeastern Donbass region. In February 2015, the warring parties to the Ukrainian conflict in Donbass signed the Minsk peace accords in order to end the fighting in the crisis-torn region. Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, as the members of the so-called Normandy Four, helped negotiate the Donbass ceasefire. The truce, however, has been repeatedly breached, with Kiev forces and Donbass militias accusing each other of violating it.
