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French lawmaker calls for granting security guarantees both to Ukraine and Russia

Manuel Bompard also doubted the necessity of sending French-made heavy tanks to Ukraine

PARIS, January 29. /TASS/. A French lawmaker has called for making diplomatic effort to settle the situation around Ukraine and granting security guarantees to both parties.

"A dialogue is needed to reach peace settlement. The peace criteria are the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine’s territory and security guarantees to all, both Ukraine and Russia. The rest are symbolic solutions, which, to my mind, do not bring us closer to peace," Manuel Bompard, member of France’s National Assembly (lower parliament house) and coordinator of the left-wing party La France Insoumise, said in an interview with the BFM television channel.

He called for focusing on diplomatic ways of settling the Ukrainian conflict. "Lest us stop pretending that the war in Ukraine can be stopped only by military ways. It is a mistake. What we need to do is to continue diplomatic efforts towards soonest peace," he explained.

He also doubted the necessity of sending French-made heavy tanks to Ukraine. "Minister [of the Armed Forces Sebastien] Lecornu said that due to difficulties with technical maintenance, supplies of French tanks would mean more problems for Ukraine than advantages. I don’t think we should follow this path," Bompard noted.

At a joint news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on January 22, French President Emmanuel Macron said in reply to a question about Leclerc tank supplies to Kiev that "nothing is excluded." However, he noted that such supplies should not lead to escalation and harm France’s defense capacities.

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