Putin has one argument left for France, and he will use it – Piontkovsky

Andrei Piontkovsky, a Russian political expert based in Washington, D.C., said that Putin has many “sleeper” cells of Islamic terrorists in France, which he is activating. He said this in an interview with the Ukrainian TV channel Espresso.

Piontkovsky is a Russian political scientist, publicist, and PhD in physics and mathematics. Author of a number of works on political topics, leading researcher at the Institute of System Analysis of the Russian Academy of Sciences, member of the American Mathematical Union. He actively condemns the Putin regime, which is why he had to leave Russia in 2016. He considers “Putinism to be the highest and final stage of gangster capitalism in Russia.”

“Pay attention to another very important point: the first thing Putin did was activate his fifth column in Paris. And on the very first day, all the far-left and far-right parties, and the main one, Le Pen, all spoke out about Macron pushing us towards a world war, about adventurism, and so on. Two days ago, Le Pen unexpectedly reappeared on the screen and affirmed Macron’s position, asserting that Putin is an aggressor who has breached all laws and now poses a threat to Europe, necessitating immediate action to stop him.”

Andrei Piontkovsky, a Russian political expert

Piontkovsky believes that Le Pen handled herself well, likely presenting documents revealing the Putin regime’s financing of her presidential campaign, and that Macron has successfully secured his domestic political future.

“Putin has only one argument left regarding France. I am sure he will use it. Putin has activated numerous sleeper cells of Islamic terrorists in France. You’ve noticed that over the past two years, when all Russian special services have been completely bogged down in Ukraine, Islamic terrorist acts in France have stopped. Each time these acts occurred previously, a Chechen with a Russian passport was among the participants, indicating Moscow’s control over these cells.”

Andrei Piontkovsky, a Russian political expert

On February 26, about 20 European leaders met in Paris to discuss the threats posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Following the conference, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that we should not rule out the deployment of Western ground troops to Ukraine in the future to counter Russian war aggression.

On March 4, Macron said he would not send troops to Ukraine in the near future, but this opens a debate on the issue. On March 5, Macron calls on the allies “not to be cowards” with regard to Ukraine and to step up.

Macron, commenting on the idea of sending Western troops to Ukraine, emphasized that France is determined and ready to invest resources to achieve victory over Russia.

The far-left and far-right French parties criticized President Emmanuel Macron’s position on supporting Ukraine, which he expressed in an interview on March 14.