French military instructors in Ukraine would be ‘legitimate target’, Russia says

Any French military instructors in Ukraine would be a “legitimate target” for Russian armed forces, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Tuesday during a tour of Africa, where frustration with the west has swayed several countries toward Moscow.

Lavrov made the remarks at joint news conference with the Republic of Congo’s foreign minister, Jean Claude Gakosso.

“As for the French instructors, I think they are already on the Ukrainian territory,” Lavrov said, referring to the military instructors that France could send to train Ukrainian troops. “Regardless of their status, military officials or mercenaries represent a legitimate target for our armed forces.”

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “instructors who train the Kyiv regime’s troops don’t have any sort of immunity, and it doesn’t matter whether they are French or not.”

Ukraine’s top commander said last week he had signed paperwork allowing French military instructors to access Ukrainian training centres soon. But France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said last week he would not comment on “rumours or decisions that could be made”. He said he would elaborate on France’s support during the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-day later this week.

Macron’s office said it would not comment on Lavrov and Peskov’s remarks.

Lavrov has visited the African continent several times in the past few years as Russia seeks to shore up support amid Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A number of African countries in recent years have expressed growing frustration with their traditional western partners such as France and the United States. Some of them have instead turned to Russia to seek help in fighting Islamic insurgencies.

Lavrov also dismissed the Ukraine peace conference due to take place later this month in Switzerland, to which Russia was not invited.

“This conference in Switzerland has no meaning,” he said. “The only meaning it can have is to try to preserve this anti-Russian bloc, which is in the process of crumbling.”

The Republic of Congo was the second stop on Lavrov’s tour. He visited Guinea on Monday and met the foreign minister.

Late on Tuesday, he landed at the airport of the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou, the country’s authorities said in a statement on social media. On Wednesday Lavrov was scheduled to meet Ibrahim Traoré, the country’s leader who took power after a 2022 military coup.