Macron tells of ‘threatening’ Russian call
RUSSIA will seek to disrupt the Paris Olympics, Emmanuel Macron warned yesterday, as Nato foreign ministers clashed over how to confront the Kremlin.
The French president disclosed details of a “bizarre and threatening” phone call between Russia’s defence minister and his Parisian counterpart, in which Sergei Shoigu suggested France was involved in the recent terror attack on a Moscow concert hall.
Asked whether he was concerned that Russia may target the Paris Games this summer, Mr Macron said: “I have no doubt, including in the informational [news] space.”
He added: “[Russia]) feeds every day into the idea that we shouldn’t do this or that, that there is a risk and that’s why we must stand firm. Strength of character, self-confidence and the relationship with the truth are the great strengths of democracies and great nations.”
Yesterday, at a meeting in Brussels to celebrate Nato’s 75th anniversary, Western foreign ministers were locked in talks on how to tackle Russia as the Kremlin warned it was now in “direct confrontation” with the military alliance. Lord Cameron, the British Foreign
Secretary, ruled out Nato troops being sent to Ukraine, but The Telegraph understands that he was confronted behind closed doors by a Baltic colleague who accused him of losing his “Churchillian spirit”.
It came as a former head of MI6 said Britain may need to consider a system of selective conscription for military service, like the one adopted in Sweden.
The French defence minister, Sebastien Lecornu, held a one-hour phone call with his Russian counterpart Mr Shoigu on Wednesday night. According to his ministry, Mr Lecornu said France was ready to step up information exchanges
to battle “terrorism”. However, according to a readout from the Russian defence ministry, Mr Shoigu told Mr Lecornu he hoped that the French secret services had not been involved in the recent attack on a concert hall in Moscow claimed by Islamic State group extremists.
“The comments by the Russian side were bizarre and threatening,” said Mr
Macron, adding that any suggestions France might have been involved in the deadly attack were “ridiculous”.
France, he said, had been in contact with Russia as Paris had “useful information” to share on the origin and organisation of the attack that claimed the lives of at least 144 people.
“I asked the directors of the services at the appropriate ministries to have technical discussions with their (Russian) counterparts to express a message of solidarity and because we had useful information – I am not going to reveal it here – on the origin and organisation of this attack,” said Mr Macron.
“It’s ridiculous to say that France is behind it, that the Ukrainians are behind it. It makes no sense. It does not correspond to reality, it’s a manipulation of information which is part of Russia’s arsenal of war.”
The phone talks were seen by some observers as a change of tack for Mr Macron, who has in recent months toughened his line against Russia, refusing to rule out putting troops on the ground in Ukraine.
Defending his approach, the French president said: “We will have joint work with all those affected by terrorism. And when we have information we have technical exchanges.”
Mr Macron’s comments came days after France’s national cybersecurity chief said the Paris Olympics would be a “target” this year including for foreign states interested in “disrupting the opening ceremony or causing problems on public transport”.
Russia has accused the International Olympic Committee of “racism and neo-nazism” after Russian athletes were barred from the opening ceremony of the Paris Games which will begin on July 26.
There were a reported 450 million individual cyber attacks during the last edition of the Games in Tokyo, twice as many as during the 2012 London Olympics.
Russian military intelligence services were blamed by the US for releasing the so-called “Olympic Destroyer” malware shortly before the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea, from which Russian athletes were banned.