PARIS: French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday that he had no doubt Russia would malevolently target the Paris Olympics this summer, in comments that underline the fraught geopolitical backdrop to the Games.

“I have no doubt whatsoever, including in terms of information,” Macron said in response to a reporter’s question about whether he thought that Russia would try to target the Olympics.

The Russian embassy in Paris did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Macron’s remarks, delivered at an event in Paris for the inauguration of the new Olympics aquatic centre, represent his most explicit acknowledgment to date of foreign threats to the security or smooth running of the games.

The globally anticipated event takes place amid a complex global context, with Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza complicating efforts to safeguard the Olympics.

A Macron aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to say whether the president was referring to specific intelligence signalling a future Russian interference attempt.

Instead, she said: “There is a hardening from Russia, which we have been seeing for several months.”

Macron has recently adopted a tougher stance against Russia, vowing that Moscow must be defeated, and has not ruled out that European troops may one day go to Ukraine, although he has made clear that France has no intention of instigating hostilities against Russia.

His government has also adopted a tougher line against alleged Russian disinformation efforts across Europe.

Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne said France will propose EU-wide level sanctions on those behind spreading disinformation amid what Paris sees as growing efforts by Russia to destabilise the bloc.

Relations between Russia and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) have worsened in the run-up to the Paris Olympics, where Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as neutrals, without their flags and anthems, and be excluded from the opening parade.

They were initially banned from competing internationally following Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Russia said last year it planned to relaunch a multi-sport ‘Friendship Games’ in 2024, 40 years after its first edition, a move the IOC has criticised as a “political action”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said this week that the IOC’s attitude to Russia’s plans to host international sports events was “unacceptable” and the IOC was damaging the Olympic movement by refusing to dissociate itself from politics.

In other comments, Macron backed the idea of Franco-Malian singer Aya Nakamura performing at the opening ceremony of the Games and urged his compatriots to have “confidence” ahead of the Games.

Nakamura has been at the centre of a political storm since March when it emerged in media reports Macron had suggested the superstar singer of “Djadja” could perform at the opening ceremony on July 26.

Influential far-right politicians and other conservatives have rounded on the 28-year-old, accusing her of “vulgarity” and not respecting the French language, while racist online abuse has sparked a police investigation.

“I think she is certainly suitable for the opening or closing ceremony of the Games,” Macron told reporters in his first comments on the controversy.

“If she’s part of the ceremony with other artists, I think it’s a good thing,” he added, saying the “Games and the ceremonies should resemble us. She is part of French culture and French music.”

The recent row over Nakamura and a spat over the official poster for the Games — in which a Christian cross has been omitted from a Paris landmark — underline the tricky job organisers have in uniting a fractious country behind the Olympics.

An Islamic State-claimed attack last month on a Moscow concert hall, which left at least 144 people dead, has also revived fears extremists might be plotting to target the first Games in the French capital in 100 years.

“We need to have confidence in ourselves,” Macron told reporters, adding: “Yes, there are risks, but there are risks in life and the best way to avoid risks is to do nothing. I don’t think that’s the mission of the French nation, or ever has been.”

Up to the final second “we will be determined, vigilant and at work. We’ll succeed and it will make the country proud,” he promised.

Concern has centred on the spectacular opening ceremony being planned on the river Seine that will see athletes travel several kilometres on a flotilla of more than a hundred boats -- rather than parade through the athletics stadium, as is customary.

Macron insisted that the open-air extravaganza, with as many as 500,000 spectators watching from the banks and nearby buildings, remained the “favoured scenario” but contingency plans were being worked on.

“Everything is a cause of vigilance and attention, nothing is a cause of worry or paralysis. That is my and our state of mind,” he said.

In further efforts to lift the gloom around the Olympics, Macron urged observers to look at the achievements so far, with all of the sporting infrastructure on track and with a budget that is only slightly higher than expected.

The 188-million-euro ($204-million) aquatics centre he visited on Thursday — one of only two new venues built for the Paris Olympics — was handed over to the local organising committee a month ahead of schedule.

“Take a bit of perspective and look at the history of previous Games,” he said. “Remember the overspends of four, eight, or 12 years ago. It’s nothing like this.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2024