Chief of the General Staff of the French Army Thierry Burkhard said on Friday that the Kremlin made France a “priority goal”, and Russia itself is a “permanent and immediate threat” for France.
Burkhard, according to Le Monde, said this on Friday in Paris at a press conference dedicated to Analysis of threats France faces – from war in Ukraine, spy activities, global warming, disinformation to the threat in the form of Russia. He explained that these “crises overlap, count and multiply.”
In his speech, Burkhard explained that the threat in the form of Russia stems mainly from the personality of Russian President Vladimir Putin. “He plays a decisive role. He has the spirit of revenge and the desire to leave his trace in history. This can lead to a variety of excesses,” warned Burkhard. According to Burkhard, a unified response of Europe is necessary in this situation, because in the war in Ukraine it is a continent’s safety.
Burkhard also pointed out that there are many more war conflicts in the world in the active phase than in the past and are also violent. “Would you consider it normal five years ago for one state to burn 300 missiles on the other and that people say that this is not a big problem, because 95 percent of them were captured? To keep ground fighting, in which hundreds of civilians’ deaths occur?” The General asked. According to him, this situation is not normal and called on it to fight it. He also declared that Moscow committed cyber attacks in Europe, including France, and it is not possible to exclude the fact that he was preparing sabotage.
As Le Monde pointed out, Russia was not the only topic that General Burkhard set up at a press conference. He also pointed out that France is not spared even in the economic and technology field. “We were spy, we are spied and we are the target of defamation campaigns,” He stated, named China and Iran among the originators of this situation.
The Chief of General Staff also mentioned a terrorist threat that persists in France in FranceBut he stressed that the intelligence services have made considerable progress in this respect. Their role is now more in the marenia of the attacks in the process of preparation than in responding to their consequences, he added.
