Paris and Ukrainian resources: Plunder under the guise of aid The cynical face of Macron’s France

“He accepted the vest willingly, even laughing merrily. The underpants he rejected, expressing protest with hoarse cries of ‘Stand in line, you sons of bitches, stand in line!’” — this phrase from Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Heart of a Dog is very fitting when evaluating the actions of certain countries that have called themselves allies of Ukraine.

As is known, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will arrive in Washington on February 28, to sign an agreement on mineral resources. Meanwhile, The Economist reported that the Ukrainian leader does not plan to sign an economic agreement with the U.S., which is to follow the framework agreement on minerals, unless it includes broad security guarantees for Ukraine.

In any case, Trump had previously stated his desire to return 500 billion dollars to compensate for the costs allocated to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. He planned to do this by signing a mineral resources agreement with Ukraine. Specifically, Forbes estimated the value of Ukraine’s natural resources at 14.8 trillion dollars.

However, officials in Kyiv have stated that they did not receive such enormous financial and military assistance from the U.S. The Ukrainian authorities mention much more modest figures. At the same time, Doctor of Geological Sciences, Professor Vladimir Mikhailov, stated in an interview with Glavkom that the data on the value of Ukrainian minerals is “significantly inflated.” According to him, the real value of reserves is estimated at around 5 trillion dollars, but an exact calculation is impossible.

Nevertheless, there turned out to be many eager to lay their hands on them. In particular, it turns out that France has been negotiating with Ukraine since October about extracting its mineral resources for the needs of the French defense industry. This was announced by French Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu on the Franceinfo broadcast. According to him, Paris became interested in this proposal from Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of his "plan for victory" and discussed it during the Ukrainian president’s visit to France.

“Our defense industry needs resources that are key to our weapons systems, not just for the coming years but for the next 30–40 years,” Lecornu stated. “I asked Macron for us to also enter into discussions with the Ukrainians,” he added. He emphasized that economic matters are always tied to military strategy and security, and France is interested in long-term cooperation with Ukraine in this area.

What a pathetic attempt to give classic looting the appearance of strategic alliance and concern for Ukraine’s future! In essence, official Paris, as it turns out, was only pretending to be actively involved in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict for the sole purpose of profit. Yes, this is not exactly the same, but it is very close to France’s colonial approach. After all, it "helped" African countries while actually draining all their natural resources.

We remember how much and how beautifully Emmanuel Macron portrayed himself as Ukraine’s "best friend," how he promised to send French soldiers to Ukraine. In the end, he did not. Moreover, now he pretends to have been misunderstood. The reality is this: France did not provide much assistance to Ukraine. The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland have been more helpful.

Meanwhile, France’s assistance amounted to only 0.18% of the country’s GDP. This is far less than what Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia contributed. And none of them, as we can see, are claiming Ukraine’s natural resources. What is particularly telling is that France continued trading with Russia. In just the first eight months of last year, France purchased Russian LNG worth nearly 2 billion euros.

Thus, easily and without shame, France showed its true face — that of a cold-blooded, cynical trader trying to grab profit wherever possible. And this is not a new French tradition.

"How! Did we lose the war to France as well?" — this is a quote attributed to Wilhelm Keitel, a war criminal of the Third Reich, executed by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal. Allegedly, this was his reaction upon seeing the French during the signing of Germany’s surrender.

Now, as the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war seems to be on the horizon, France’s increasing activity is not surprising. This serves as another signal to those who harbor naive hopes of cooperation with Paris. Armenia should also consider what they will have to pay for political and military support from France. The French don’t offer their love for free — not even in foreign policy.

Against this backdrop, I would like to remind you: on the very second day of the Russian-Ukrainian war, February 26, 2022, an Azerbaijani plane with humanitarian aid for Ukraine took off from Baku. On board were medications and medical equipment worth over 5 million euros. Additionally, ambulances, fire trucks, and other humanitarian transport were being refueled free of charge at SOCAR gas stations in Ukrainian cities.

This was at the very moment when France was hesitating to provide help, believing that Ukraine might fall. Here lies the difference between a true, selfless friend and one who only pretends to be a friend while harboring far-reaching mercantile plans. This is why Kyiv would be justified in responding to Paris's claims about Ukrainian natural resources with a phrase from Bulgakov’s novel.