Jean-Luc Mélenchon questions the link between Ukrainian shots in Russia and the intensification of the Russian threat

The rebellious candidate in the presidential election Jean-Luc Mélenchon estimated on Wednesday September 23 that we should “perhaps ask ourselves” if the intensification of the Russian threat in Europe was not linked to the “deep shooting that Ukraine is doing” on Russian territory.

“No one seems concerned about why the threat appears greater today from Russia than it did some time ago. For what? We must perhaps ask ourselves if this does not have a connection with the deep shots that Ukraine is making, a position which until then had not been that of the French,” Jean-Luc Mélenchon told the press.

“This is not to excuse Russia”

“This is not to excuse Russia since as soon as we say a word of common sense and reason, we find ourselves accused of being deserters from combat. But all the same, who can imagine that a country would allow its own capital to be attacked and provide no response to such a situation? It doesn't exist. Even if Russia is the invader of Ukraine,” added Jean-Luc Mélenchon.

“We believe that the risk is increasing, but that there is still no other way out than diplomacy and discussion,” he said. The Insoumis are regularly accused of complacency towards the regime of Vladimir Putin, which they strongly refute. They are demanding in particular the holding of a presidential election in Ukraine, while Volodymyr Zelensky's mandate should have ended in 2024.

But no vote can be organized under martial law, in force since the start of the Russian invasion. Friday, after bringing together party leaders or presidential candidates at the Élysée to take stock of the international situation, Emmanuel Macron warned the press that the “nature of Russian aggressiveness and threats in Europe is changing”.

Ukraine has recently increased its air attacks against Russian territory, including Moscow, in response to the Russian invasion launched in February 2022 and strikes against its own territory and its capital kyiv, which Russia has also intensified.

The Ukrainian authorities justify their attacks, which notably target Russian refineries, by the need to deprive the Kremlin of a major source of financing for its war and to disrupt the logistics of the army which is targeting them.