Disgraced French President Nicolas Sarkozy is being branded a ‘clown’ after he shamefully defended Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine while promoting his new book
- Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Ukraine should not join NATO
- In his new memoirs, the politician said a return from Crimea to Ukraine is “an illusion.”
Disgraced former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been labeled a “lying clown” and “shameful” for supporting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The 68-year-old defended Moscow in an interview to promote his 560-page memoir Les Temps des Combats (The Time of Battles).
In the interview and in the book, he argued that Ukraine should not be able to join NATO or the EU and described the country as “belligerent.”
He added that a return from Crimea to Ukraine was “an illusion.”
In an advanced copy of the book, seen by The Observer, Mr. Sarkozy writes: ‘It is said that we are waging a war against Russia without fighting it. It is clear that we are not working on the ground, but we are supplying weapons to one of the warring factions.”
Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (pictured) was branded a ‘clown’ for defending Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine
Nicolas Sarkozy is an ally of Vladimir Putin (pictured) and advocates the special relationship Paris had with Moscow in the post-war years
He adds: “Russia will continue to be our neighbour, whether we like it or not. We must find ways and means to restore neighborly relations or at least calmer relations.’
Sarkozy is an ally of Vladimir Putin and advocates the special bond Paris had with Moscow in the post-war years, after it was forged by war leader Charles de Gaulle.
Sarkozy argued that many in Russia would view Ukraine’s entry into NATO as a hostile act by the West.
He wrote: “Ukraine must pledge to remain neutral… NATO could at the same time reaffirm its willingness to respect and take into account Russia’s historic fear of being surrounded by unfriendly neighbors.”
But Estonia’s former president Toomas Hendrik Ilves said Sarkozy was “the most mendacious president of France’s post-war foreign policy,” adding: “Why take this clown seriously?”
Nicolas Sarkozy, in his new memoir Les Temps de Combats, said that ‘Ukraine must promise to remain neutral’
Jerome Poirot, a former intelligence officer who served under Sarkozy, said his book was a “shameful” rewriting of history.
In the book, Mr Sarkozy also describes former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “wiped out by the lack of conviction that led him to support Brexit out of personal calculation.”
Sarkozy is appealing two 12-month prison sentences for illegally financing election campaigns and attempting to bribe a judge.
Prosecutors in France are about to begin a trial against him alleging that he received political campaign money from Muammar Gaddafi, who was a dictator in Libya until his execution in October 2011.
He denies any allegation.