MOSCOW, April 18. /TASS/. Most of the French population, despite the influence of Western propaganda, considers military and financial support to Ukraine wrong and opposes confrontation with Russia, Laurent Briard, a French military correspondent of the International Reporters Agency working in Donbass, told TASS.
"Many French citizens, especially those who have lived in Russia or Ukraine, have long been against the conflict with Russia," he said.
The expert said that the French people were being bombarded by propaganda on television and from the country's leading media, and the elderly were especially susceptible. He called it zombification, noting that the US media had a hand in this.
According to the reporter, this is why some of the French support the government in decisions like supplying weapons to Ukraine. But Briard believes that French President Emmanuel Macron crossed a line when he announced he was considering sending French troops to Ukraine. "People saw that this is no longer just about transferring money and weapons, but about sending a large number of young men to die at the front," the expert added.
He said that Macron, despite declaring his desire to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine during the Olympics, intends to use the Games in Paris to influence the public for further military and financial support to that country. Briard emphasized that during the Olympics, the country may decide on new financial and military aid that hurts its own citizens.
Earlier, Macron did not explicitly rule out the possibility of sending ground troops of Western countries to the special military operation zone. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergey Naryshkin said on March 19 that France was already preparing a military contingent to be sent to Ukraine.