Barrot accuses Mélenchon of Kremlin spokesman role over Donbas consultation

The accusation

Foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot accused Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the candidate of La France insoumise in the French presidential election, of becoming a spokesman for the Kremlin. Speaking to RTL and Public Sénat on 8 November, Barrot said the Kremlin is trying to persuade heads of state and government that the Donbas is Russian and that the war of aggression is a war of liberation for the region. He said Mélenchon had made himself the Kremlin's spokesman, and that the gravity of the remarks, in his view, disqualifies Mélenchon from the functions he aspires to. The accusation followed Mélenchon's speech the previous day, which the French outlets covering it described as a programme speech.

What Mélenchon said at Le Bourget

Mélenchon spoke on Saturday, 7 November, at Le Bourget, in a programme speech that the organisers said drew more than 20,000 people. He argued that settling the war in Ukraine could involve territorial concessions, particularly in the Donbas, where he said the population should be consulted. He said he refused to consider a peace with territorial concessions in Ukraine without asking the people concerned whether they wanted to remain on one side of the border or the other. He also said a government led by his party would engage openly in ending the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“Who has the right to know whether she (the population) wants to be Ukrainian or Russian?”

Mélenchon is often criticised for questioning the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and for denouncing Ukrainian strikes deep into Russia. Kyiv has so far officially refused any concession on the Donbas.

Europe's seat at the talks

Barrot said that Europeans and France would be represented in talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators expected on 10 and 11 November in Abu Dhabi, under US mediation. He could not yet say who would represent France, but said France would be there and would make the voice of Europe heard. Earlier that week, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni criticised the disorganised approach of European countries to the Ukraine negotiations. In a letter AFP saw on Thursday, 5 November, she demanded that the EU name who speaks on its behalf. On Friday, 6 November, Kaja Kallas, the EU's top diplomat, insisted that Europe must be associated with any resolution of the conflict.

Sequence of events

The dates below run from Meloni's letter to the planned talks, each taken from the reporting. Barrot's statement came the day after Mélenchon's speech, and the Abu Dhabi meetings are the next scheduled step, though the French representative has not been named.