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Why Moscow threatened French trainers in Ukraine
Summary
A look back at Russian warnings issued around 4 June 2024 over Western military support for Kyiv.
What did Moscow signal on 4 June 2024 about Western military involvement in Ukraine? Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that French military instructors would be "legitimate targets" if they were deployed to Ukraine.
The warning followed another Russian charge two days earlier. On 2 June 2024, Russia accused NATO and the United States of provoking a new level of tension after some allies agreed to let Ukraine's military use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia.
Two warnings, one theme
Taken together, the two statements tied Russian rhetoric to the question of how far Western support for Ukraine should extend. One concerned the permitted use of weapons already supplied. The other concerned the possible presence of foreign trainers on Ukrainian soil.
Both statements were framed within Russia's relations with NATO and with the United States, and both were directed at Western governments rather than at Kyiv alone. The threat to French instructors was specific to one country, while the earlier accusation named the alliance and Washington.
