"I can't imagine a war between the country of Tolstoy and the country of Balzac," ex-President of France Nicolas Sarkozy said in an interview with the French newspaper Figaro.
It is time for serious talks, including on creating conditions for peaceful relations between Russia and its neighbors, he said. Sarkozy also expressed "serious doubts" about sending French troops to Ukraine.
The ex-president noted that "being strong with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin means taking the risk of negotiating directly and firmly with him and not getting into a spiral of war with incalculable consequences."
The former French leader recalled the centuries-long coexistence of Russians and Ukrainians, as well as the tens of millions of Russian speakers in Ukraine. According to Sarkozy, Ukraine is a bridge between the Slavic and Western worlds, which are "different but must coexist."
He called the attempt to explain the Ukrainian conflict in a "one-sided and narrow" way a mistake and urged people not to think in binary terms.
Recently, a number of media outlets reported about France sending Foreign Legion soldiers to Ukraine. This was also stated by former US Assistant Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Stephen Bryan in an article published by the Asia Times.
On May 6, the French Foreign Ministry refuted reports claiming that they are planning to deploy their troops in Ukraine.