West bears partial responsibility for Russia-Ukraine conflict: former French politicians

PARIS, April 15 (Xinhua) -- The West bears some responsibility for the ongoing escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, two former French politicians have said in two separate articles, during which they expressed their concerns over sanctions against Russia.

In an article published in Le Figaro, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, a senior former diplomatic adviser to former French President Jacques Chirac, said that since the end of the Soviet Union, the hubris of the West has resulted in the loss of sight of the fact that security must be "arranged."

Russian warnings went unheeded or were ignored, Gourdault-Montagne said, adding that possible trust between Russia and the West has turned into mistrust and then into defiance.

Russia's request for a stop of NATO's eastward expansion and for the neutrality of Ukraine deserves to be heard, Gourdault-Montagne said in the article.

Similarly, former French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine has pleaded for dialogue with Russia. In another article published in Le Figaro, Vedrine wrote that the West bears some responsibility for the current situation.

In addition, both Gourdault-Montagne and Vedrine expressed their concerns over sanctions against Russia.

Vedrine warned that sanctions are not a panacea, noting that the United States' use of extraterritorial sanctions citing honorable reasons has only served its own interests for decades.

"We must be careful not to punish the peoples or to punish ourselves," Vedrine said, adding that "Russia will always be our neighbor, it is a geographical remark, not a political one."

Gourdault-Montagne, in his article, also called on people not to be deluded about the effectiveness of sanctions.