MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. The Russian side has information that France is preparing a military contingent of 2,000 troops to be sent to Ukraine, Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergey Naryshkin said.
"The current leadership of the country (France - TASS) does not care about the deaths of ordinary French people or about the concerns of the generals. According to information coming to the Russian SVR, a contingent to be sent to Ukraine is already being prepared. Initially, it will include around 2,000 troops," he said.
According to the Russian foreign intelligence chief, the French military "fears that such a large military unit cannot be transferred and stationed in Ukraine unnoticed."
"It will thus become a legitimate priority target for attacks by the Russian armed forces. This means that it will suffer the fate of all the French who have ever come to the Russian world with a sword," he stressed.
After a conference on Ukraine in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron did not unequivocally rule out potential sending Western land troops to the zone of the special military operation in Ukraine. He also vowed that Western states would "do what is needed" to prevent Russia’s victory in this conflict.