France: The events in Ukraine cannot be described as “genocide.”
After Macron refused to use the word “genocide” about the events in Ukraine, the French Minister of European Affairs also said that he did not consider the term correct.
The French Foreign Ministry announced today (Monday) that it does not consider the term “genocide” to apply to the events in Ukraine. The statement was made by French Minister for European Affairs Clement Boone.
“We can not describe the events in Ukraine as ‘genocide,'” the French minister was quoted as saying by Arab News.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron refused to use the term genocide and used the term “war crimes”. According to media reports, Macron had said he did not want to get into the pun and claimed that he would prefer the conflict in Ukraine to end as soon as possible.
“What we can say for sure is that the situation is unacceptable and that these are war crimes,” Macron was quoted as saying by France 2 local media. We are experiencing war crimes that are unprecedented on our soil, our European soil.
The French president made the remarks in response to remarks by his American counterpart about “Russian genocide in Ukraine.” “I am cautious in using such words these days because the two nations (Russia and Ukraine) are brothers,” Macron, who is in the run-up to the French presidential election, said in an interview.
After Macron refused to use the term, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky asked his French counterpart to travel to Ukraine to look closely at evidence of “genocide.”
“I do not use such words,” Macron had previously said in response to Biden’s call for regime change in Russia.
