VIENNA, May 27. /TASS/. Citizens of France, the Baltic republics, and Poland have been fighting on the part of Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, a Russian diplomat told TASS.
"France, the Baltic countries and Poland are especially zealous when it comes to the potential deployment of national contingents to Ukraine. Notably, citizens of these countries have been fighting on the part of the Ukrainian army as mercenaries since the very beginning of the special military operation and are legitimate targets for us," Konstantin Gavrilov, who leads the Russian delegation to the Vienna talks on military security and arms control, said.
According to Gavrilov, at least 1,497 out of 2,960 Polish mercenaries have been eliminated.
"There were from 170 to 190 militants from each of the Baltic countries in the Ukrainian army. Losses among them amount up to 50-60%. Notably, France, which has been vehemently denying the presence of its mercenaries in Ukraine, has lost more than 147 out of 356 militants," he said.
Commenting on the idea of sending NATO troops to Ukraine, the Russian diplomat noted that "neither Paris nor Warsaw nor Riga nor Vilnius nor Tallinn would be happy to see a flow of coffins of soldiers of their regular armies on top the hundreds of denazified mercenaries in the zone of the special military operation.".