PARIS, November 20. /TASS/. The French people must be prepared "to lose their children" in order to deter Russia, France's Chief of the Defense Staff Fabien Mandon alleged.
"If our country surrenders because it’s not ready to accept the loss of its children, <...> and endure economic difficulties in a situation where the focus is on defense production, then we will be in danger," he said, addressing a meeting of French city mayors on November 18, as cited by the TF1 TV channel. Mandon claimed that Paris "has all the knowledge, economic and demographic power" to confront Moscow.
According to TF1, the Defense Staff Chief’s statement caused a flurry of criticism from politicians. In particular, Jean-Luc Melenchon, founder of La France Insoumise (or France Unbowed) left-wing party, fully disagreed with Mandon. "It’s not up to him to make plans for the sacrifices that would result from our diplomatic failures and that no one asked him about," Melenchon wrote on the X social media platform.
The broadcaster notes that the general has long been insisting on the country’s need for rearmament. Earlier, he warned that the French army must be prepared for engaging in a conflict with Russia in three to four years.
Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier slammed European politicians’ "mantra" about a potential war with Russia as nonsense. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed during the General Debate at the 80th session of the UN General Assembly that Moscow had never had plans to attack NATO and the EU.