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French Minister Le Maire Forced to Withdraw His Declaration of War vs. Russia

PARIS, March 2, 2022 (EIRNS)—France’s Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, in an interview with France Info that he posted yesterday on his Twitter account, unleashed a tirade demanding a full economic war against Russia. “Yes, the sanctions are effective. They are even frighteningly effective. And I do not want to leave any ambiguity about the European determination on this issue. We are going to wage an all-out financial and economic war against Russia.”

He went on to describe his war strategy.

“We are going to prepare a set of sanctions which are currently being examined... They have to strike quickly, they have to strike hard. And we are already seeing the effects: the ruble has already collapsed by 30%; Russian foreign exchange reserves are melting like snow in the Sun and Vladimir Putin’s famous war chest is already reduced to almost nothing. We see the collapse of the markets, the increase of inflation, we will see the queues of Russians looking for cash in the banks. And then the central bank had no choice but to increase interest rates by 10%, up to 20%, which means that companies will not be able to borrow except at very high interest rates to invest and develop the economy. So we will cause the collapse of the Russian economy.”

Russia’s former President Dmitry Medvedev tweeted a response in French to Le Maire: “Today, a French minister said he had declared economic war on Russia. Watch out for your language, gentlemen! And don’t forget that economic wars in the history of humanity often were transformed into ‘real wars’!”

In the afternoon, questioned by AFP, Le Maire had to withdraw his words, indicating that he was admonished by French President Emmanuel Macron. He said that “the term of ‘economic warfare’ used this morning with France Info was inappropriate and does not correspond to our strategy of de-escalation. France is not in conflict against the Russian people.”French Minister Le Maire Forced to Withdraw His Declaration of War vs. Russia

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