(Brussels) Emmanuel Macron deemed it useful on Friday to “leave the way open” for dialogue with Moscow to obtain a halt to his offensive in Ukraine, while denouncing “the duplicity” of his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Posted at 9:41 p.m.
After an EU summit in Brussels, the French president said he had Thursday “a” frank, direct, rapid exchange “with Vladimir Putin, to demand” the fighting stop as soon as possible ” and “ask him to discuss” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “whose request it was”.
I think it’s my responsibility […] while condemning, while sanctioning, while continuing to act, to leave this path open so that the day when the conditions can be met, we can obtain a cessation of hostilities “”, he argued.
However, the French president, who had multiplied diplomatic initiatives in recent weeks, deplored the duplicity “” of the Kremlin.
Shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine, “we were still discussing the details of implementing the Minsk agreements. So, yes, there was duplicity, there was a deliberate, conscious choice by President Putin to launch the war when we could still negotiate peace,” he said.
“We must draw all the conclusions from President Putin’s choice to want to stutter European history and bring us back to the logic of empire and confrontation, to flout all the principles that govern international law”, continued Emmanuel Macron.