“The Russian army is no longer what it was”, says Jean-Pierre Chevènement

At the microphone of Sonia Mabrouk, the former minister and special representative of France for Russia, Jean-Pierre Chevènement, nuanced the forces of the Russian army: “The Russian army is no longer what it was, we see it on the ground. In reality, it is the army of a country of 140 million inhabitants, but relatively poor. It is often said that its GDP is that of Italy, but Russia is a global geopolitical reality, with 17 million km², of which 14 are made up of frozen ground.”

“Russia did not give the impression of being able to undertake a war of aggression against Europe. I do not believe that it can, moreover,” added Jean-Pierre Chevènement. He also said he was “surprised by the weakness of the Russian army”.

“A heroic resistance of Ukraine”

The former minister also spoke about the struggle of the Ukrainian people: “Ukraine has turned out to be a much more resilient nation than we thought, even in Russian-speaking areas, such as Kharkiv, there is a heroic resistance against a Russian army that was so outnumbered.”

Jean-Pierre Chevènement believes that this resistance is leading Russia to reconsider its projects: “I think Putin is in the process of downscaling his objectives. He no longer plans to get his hands on all of Ukraine, it’s difficult to say with certainty, but it seems that the Russian army is retreating to the Donbass.”

“The Ukrainians are fighting, they are resisting, they are the descendants of the Cossacks,” he concluded.