France must not be weak against Russia threat – Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that France must not be “weak” faced with the threat from Russia, while emphasising it had no intention of “sending our young people” to fight in the Ukraine war.

“We would be wrong to show weakness in the face of this threat. If we want to protect ourselves, we French — which is my sole concern — we must demonstrate that we are not weak against the power that threatens us the most,” he told RTL radio in an interview.

Macron is expected to make an announcement later this week on a voluntary form of military service, after France scrapped compulsory service in 1997.

He told RTL he would be announcing a “transformation of national service into a new form” on Thursday, but did not provide further details.

A source with knowledge of the matter, speaking anonymously because not allowed to speak to the press, has told AFP that the plan is for 2,000 to 3,000 people to be trained up in the first year, aiming to increase those signing up over time to 50,000 per year.

Macron however stressed that France had no intention of sending its youth to the frontlines.

“It is absolutely necessary, at least immediately, to dispel any confused idea suggesting that we are going to send our young people to Ukraine,” he said.

France’s top general last week caused alarm after warning that the country must be ready to “lose its children” against the background of the threat posed by Russia.

Macron said the comments had been “deformed” and “taken out of context”.

“Soldiers who sign up make sacrifices, but to tell all French people that they are going to be sacrificed, that makes no sense,” he said.

Macron spoke ahead of a planned video call between the 30 countries of the so-called “coalition of the willing” supporting Kyiv on Tuesday afternoon.

If the war sparked by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine ends in a ceasefire, the coalition aims to send a multinational force to deter any other Russian attack.

AFP

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