Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for a “neutral” Ukraine and a referendum on the “ratification” of the annexation of Crimea caused a flurry of criticism from politicians and experts, who called the former French president’s comments “shameful” and accused him of being “bought” by Putin’s Russia, reports AFP, News.ro reports.

Returning to the public’s attention with a new volume of his memoirs, the former resident of the Elysee Palace caused a storm in the middle of summer. The memoir was published ahead of a fall trial in his appeal of the Bigmalion case, the 2012 campaign finance scandal in which the former president was sentenced to a year in prison, which he is serving at home. under electronic surveillance.

In a major interview published by Le Figaro online late Wednesday, the former president criticized the choices made by his successors (Francois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron) on everything from immigration to riots in the suburbs and from the Sahel to Ukraine. He even went so far as to disagree with French diplomacy, advocating the idea of ​​a “compromise” with Moscow even at the cost of Crimea, for which, according to him, “any return to the past is illusory.”

Answers did not appear for long. MP Julien Bayou fired back at critics on Thursday morning: “A former president should not say something like that,” said the LCI-elect environmentalist, criticizing the “hallucinatory” and “shocking” interview. Nicolas Sarkozy made a “terrible mistake,” but “we understand him better when we know he was bought by the Russians,” he added, referring to Sarkozy’s ties to a Russian insurance company.

This €3 million contract is the subject of a 2021 investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office for “influence trading” and “criminal or criminal laundering”. According to Bayu, this is new evidence of “Russian control over the elites”, as well as the activities of former Prime Minister Francois Fillon in the oil field and the bank loan provided by the far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

MEP Nathalie Loiseau, for her part, complained on the X platform (formerly Twitter) about “the dependence of a part of the European political class on the opinions of Vladimir Putin”, while her Belgian colleague Guy Verhofstadt asked if we should “laugh”. or let’s cry’ for Sarkozy’s statements symbolizing the ‘tragic mistakes’ he made with Russia becoming a ‘terrorist state’.

Nicolas Sarkozy’s analysis “convincingly illustrates the confusion of the French elites regarding Russia and once again weakens the voice of our nation in Europe. Pathetic,” commented the member of the European Parliament, Raphael Glucksmann, associated with the Socialist Party.

The French MAE provides clarification

The official line has not changed.

“France’s position on Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine is well known,” said the Quai d’Orsay (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

“As long as it is necessary, France and the European Union will be with the Ukrainians,” said Pierre-Alexandre Anglad, president of the Commission for European Affairs of the National Assembly of France.

For its part, the Ukrainian authorities rejected any hint of a referendum and accused Nicolas Sarkozy of “criminal logic” that “justifies the Kremlin’s aggressive war”, which is “direct complicity”, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

However, the tone was very different in Moscow, where former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a close friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, praised his “courageous and fair statements”.

Specialists in international relations also expressed caution, François Heisbourg estimated that this “shameful pro-Putin interview” could “create problems for the former French president.” “And not only political ones,” he stressed.

Bruno Tertreis, a member of the Foundation for Strategic Studies, said the interview “can make people laugh, cry or feel sorry for him”.

Jerome Poirot, the former deputy intelligence coordinator, condemned the comments by the former head of state, who he said had “no idea what happened” or “what he did” during his time in office.

Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008, months after Sarkozy blocked the Caucasian country’s entry into the military alliance at a NATO summit in Bucharest, does not prevent him from claiming today that he knew “Putin’s red lines.” Poirot feels insulted by this and asks rhetorically: “What were President Sarkozy’s red lines? What was his vision of French security? (…) Just to satisfy the wishes of Vladimir Putin?”.