MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - The plans for putting together a coalition of countries to supply Ukraine with long-range missiles voiced by French President Emmanuel Macron are suicidal, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
"Indeed, for the first time amid the discussions on how to further support Ukraine, Macron not only declared the establishment of a ninth missile coalition, which would include deliveries of long-range weapon types to reach inside the Russian Federation, which is suicidal in itself, if it's confirmed," Lavrov said at a press conference on Tuesday.
"Apart from that, he said, 'Yes, we've discussed sending land forces to Ukraine for a long time, and there's no consensus yet, but the consultations will continue'. Some other participants in the French meeting have also spoken about that, but they spoke about it in the sense that they view the idea as unacceptable. Macron was cautious enough to declare that the possibility of sending [troops to Ukraine] by individual countries was discussed," Lavrov said.
NATO "does not want conditions to be formed where someone is able to raise the question of Article 5 of the Washington Treaty," he said.
"That's precisely why both individual members of the alliance, like Macron, and [NATO Secretary General Jens] Stoltenberg keep saying all the time: 'We won't drag NATO into this conflict, this should be done at the level of individual countries'. There has been some speculation about some kind of Polish legion... It seems to me that those who don't just utter such ideas but even allow for their possibility in their head should use this head for ideas that are more sensible and safer for Europe," he said.
"Just a month ago, the French foreign minister denied Paris's involvement in recruiting mercenaries" to join the fighting in Ukraine and "branded direct evidence [of this] as 'blatant Russian propaganda'," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said when commenting on Macron's statements.
"There is a strong impression that the French president doesn't realize in principle either what his subordinates say or what he utters himself," Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Commenting on Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky's declared intention to make a new proposal to Russia on how the conflict should be settled, Lavrov said, "He said this would not be regarded as negotiations. A normal person understands that he was implying an ultimatum."
"Zelensky has never stopped making ultimatums. His entire ten-point formula has been and remains an obvious ultimatum," Lavrov said.