In an interview with French television, Emmanuel Macron talked about his vision of the conflict in Ukraine and his experience of communicating with Vladimir Putin.
“When you meet him, he doesn’t seem like the unpleasant person. This is the paradox,” said the French President.
According to Macron, Russian special operations in Ukraine began with the aim of “reclaiming lands and expanding Russia’s borders to the borders of the once-existing empire.”
The Telegraph noted that the interview for Les Rencontres du Papotin was recorded in November, before Macron’s rhetoric about the Russian president and the Ukraine conflict changed significantly. The British publication recalled that initially Macron was one of the main supporters of negotiations with the Russian Federation and personally with Putin, but recently in the Elysee Palace the opinion on this issue has changed significantly.
Thus, France became the first country to supply Kiev with tanks of Western construction – the AMX-10 RC light wheeled tanks (sometimes classified as French heavy armored vehicles, despite the presence of the 105 mm tank gun).
“This is something that sends a clear message to all our partners – there is no logical reason why Western tanks have not been supplied to Ukraine so far,” Macron said.
On January 5, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that Paris still considers it necessary to continue the dialogue with the Russian Federation.
“We have contacts with Russia at all levels and we want to continue these contacts with Russia. <…> I had the opportunity to talk with [главой МИД России] Our paths crossed with Sergey Lavrov at international conferences, for example, in the G20 areas.”
In 2022, France sent around €200 million in humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. Over the past year, Paris has delivered 18 CAEZAR self-propelled guns, two LRU MLRS, two Crotale anti-aircraft missile systems, VAB armored personnel carriers, ammunition, fuel and personal protective equipment to Kiev. It is planned to allocate € 76.5 million to Kiev to restore the energy system damaged by the missile attacks. In addition, the product range, which France started to transfer air defense systems to Ukraine this winter, was not named.
Consequences of the epidemic
At the end of September, Macron said in an interview with CNN that the actions of the Russian president defy rational explanation.
“It is clear to everyone that the leader who decided to start a war, the leader who decided to escalate, was Putin. I don’t have a logical explanation. It seems to me that this is a combination of resentment, the strategy of hegemony in the region, and the consequences of the pandemic resulting from Putin’s isolation. He took on a very heavy responsibility for himself, his people, and of course the Ukrainian people and all of us. That’s how I see things”
said Macron.
At the same time, he commented on Putin’s decision to conduct partial mobilization in Russia from September 21. He called this step a mistake and pointed to a missed opportunity “to get on the path of peace”.
In the same interview, he said that a few months ago, Putin had told him that Russia’s actions were a response to NATO provocations and aggression.