‘Naked aggression’: France envoy slams Russia for Ukraine war, lauds PM Modi

Emmanuel Lenain, France’s ambassador to India, said on Saturday that Russia’s offensive in Ukraine was a violation of international law and that leaders in New Delhi and Paris are working together to convince President Vladimir Putin to end the war, which has entered its seventh month, news agency PTI reported.

“We feel it is a naked aggression by a country on another one, on a democracy, an aggression which was without any provocation and that it is not in keeping with the principles of international order,” Lenain said.

He said India and France were also working together to mitigate the consequences of the conflict including global food and energy security. He welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to Putin on the Ukraine war.

“I think it was a very welcome remark, as always, and you have seen that President Emmanuel Macron in his speech in New York to the UN General Assembly has mentioned and quoted Prime Minister Modi,” the French envoy said.

Lenain also condemned Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday and said the action was a serious violation of both international law and Ukraine’s sovereignty. Putin announced the formal annexation of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.

“I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West: People living in Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens forever,” Putin said at a ceremony in Moscow on Friday to celebrate the annexation.

The annexation was strongly criticised by the European Commission, the United States and Turkey among others.

India, however, abstained from a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution condemning the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions. Since the beginning of the Ukraine war in February, India has refrained from publicly criticising Moscow’s actions but has called for an end to the fighting.