(Newswire.net — January 6, 2015) — French President Francois Hollande fears the economic crisis in Russia might have an impact on Europe. In a two-hour interview on radio station France International, Hollande has called for sanctions imposed against Moscow to be lifted as soon as there’s progress in the peace talks over Ukraine, RT reported.
“If Russia has a crisis, it is not necessarily good for Europe,” Hollande said. “I’m not for the policy of attaining goals by making things worse, I think that sanctions must stop now.”
Hollande, however, said he wanted to make sure there’s progress in the peace talks over the situation in Ukraine, before putting an end to sanctions, showing that France is standing by its NATO allays.
Awaiting the peace talks on January 15 in Astana, Kazakhstan, organized by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Hollande hopes that both sides will display mutual understanding. As reported by RT, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are expected to be among the participants.
The situation is, however, far from a mutual understanding as Moscow doesn’t really acknowledge Ukraine’s government, stating they do not represent the will of Ukraine people. Nonetheless, Moscow will never let Ukraine become a NATO country, same as Washington will never let Soviet missiles in Cuba.
Apart from national strategies and large scale political games there are people suffering on both sides. Not only Ukraine and Russians, but in some NATO countries as well. As Russia and its eastern allays are considering imposing sanctions against EU, the situation could get more complicated.
Hollande admitted France is suffering major economic consequences because of the embargo and could in addition be fined with a multibillion-dollar fine for not delivering two ‘Mistral’ helicopter carriers ordered by Russian Ministry of Defense.
Moscow has repeatedly said it was doing all in its power to facilitate the peace process in eastern Ukraine, however, Hollande said he understands that Kiev’s striving for NATO membership can hardly contribute to the peace process.
“Mr. Putin does not want to annex eastern Ukraine. I am sure. He told me so,” Hollande told France Inter. “What he wants is to remain influential. What Mr. Putin wants is that Ukraine does not become a member of NATO.”
“The idea of Mr Putin is not to have an army at Russia’s borders,” said French president.