France Regrets Poroshenko Attempts to Buy European Weapons – Politician

Aymeric Chauprade, a French politician and a member of the European Parliament, said that France "regrets" that Kiev is seeking to buy European weapons.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko – France "regrets" that Kiev is seeking to buy European weapons while it is embroiled in an armed conflict with independence supporters in the country's southeast, a French politician and a member of the European Parliament told Sputnik Wednesday.

"We hope France will keep its balanced view of the situation, and we try to find a good and reasonable agreement with Mr Poroshenko, even if we clearly regret that Mr Poroshenko still tries to buy weapons in Europe, Aymeric Chauprade, a member of the right-wing National Front party, said.

Chauprade added that France is concerned that Poroshenko does nothing to calm the military standoff in his country.

The Ukrainian president arrived in France for an official visit earlier in the day. Poroshenko stated earlier Wednesday that he was not planning to request supplies of lethal weapons from France at present or in the near future.

Since the start of the military operation against eastern Ukrainian independence supporters April 2014, Kiev has repeatedly asked Western states for lethal aid.

In February, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that Paris had no plans to supply Ukraine with weaponry, stressing the need for finding a political solution to the Ukrainian crisis. Several other European countries including Germany, Norway and Denmark also ruled out arming Kiev.

Moscow has repeatedly stated that supplying Kiev with weapons would lead to deterioration of the situation in Ukraine.