France pledges support to Georgia and Moldova

By Shweta Desai

PARIS (AA) - France has pledged to support the eastern European states of Georgia and Moldova against any Russian attempt at destabilization, the presidency said on Saturday.

In a telephone exchange with his Georgian and Moldovan counterparts, Salome Zourabichvili and Maia Sandu, respectively, President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his determination to support the eastern neighborhood against any “attempt at tension and destabilization.”

“We stand with Moldova and Georgia to defend their sovereignty and security,” Macron told them, the statement said. Macron also informed about the phone call in a tweet and pledged to stand “united in the crisis.”

France is preparing to assist and support the two immediate neighboring states of war ravaging Ukraine as Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has expressed concern that the ongoing Russian offensive might be extended to Moldova and Georgia.

Paris has already reinforced military defensive deployment and sent additional troops to Poland, Estonia, and Romania to support NATO operations.

- Nuclear powered aircraft carrier reoriented

The French navy has also reoriented flagship air carrier Charles de Gaulle from its current operation in the Mediterranean to support the NATO mission against Ukraine, a report in the French media Naval News said.

After spending one month as part of the Clemenceau mission 22, the aircraft carrier docked in Cyprus on Saturday to “regenerate its operational potential,” the French navy’s Carrier Strike Group said on Twitter.

The original deployment of Charles de Gaulle in the operation was to last from February to April. But since tensions have flared over Ukraine, the aircraft carrier has been re-tasked.

The nuclear-powered carrier CSG cannot transit to the Black Sea because of the Montreux Convention, but its air wing is likely to be tasked with aerial patrolling around the Black Sea and supporting the Black Sea states of Romania and Bulgaria, the report said.

The 1936 Montreux Convention regarding the regime of the Straits, limits naval movements of non-Turkish submarines and aircraft carriers for deployment through the Bosphorus strait passing through Istanbul, Turkiye.

It, however, allows submarines belonging to Black Sea states – Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, and Georgia – for the first time after their construction or purchase, or for the purpose of repair in dockyards outside the Black Sea.