“We must maintain the diplomatic channel”, defends on franceinfo, Saturday March 12, Patrick Martin-Genier, teacher at Sciences Po and specialist in Europe while Emmanuel Macron spoke again with his Russian counterpart about the war waged in Ukraine. But according to the analyst,“Vladimir Putin does not want to negotiate anything, he wants to exterminate Ukraine”.
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franceinfo: For 17 days, have these telephone conversations made it possible to obtain anything?
Patrick Martin-Genier: No, I do not think so. Moreover, the President of the Republic is extremely disappointed. We must of course maintain this diplomatic channel, but Vladimir Putin wants to obtain the capitulation of Ukraine, he wants to exterminate Ukraine, to sweep it from the face of the earth whether by negotiation or by war. It is clear that he does not want to negotiate anything. In reality, the term negotiation does not have the same meaning on one side or the other. For Vladimir Putin, this means talks with a view to the capitulation of Ukraine, while on the Western side, in particular President Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz, it means negotiating a ceasefire, which Vladimir categorically refuses Putin.
The siege strategy implemented in Mariupol and now in Kiev, can it last a long time?
It can last a very long time, especially since the Russian army is encountering enormous difficulties, on the material level, on the logistical level, in terms of the morale of the troops. Faced with fierce resistance, very important and heroic both from the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian citizens, it is now calling for the reinforcement of Syrian mercenaries. We can clearly see today that he is in great difficulty, especially since we already know that three generals died at the front in Ukraine.
Why do we never mention a phone call between Emmanuel Macron and Chinese leader Xi Jinping?
It is true that China could be a kind of intermediary to negotiate with Russia. Initially, this aggression against Ukraine served the Chinese regime, which wanted to test the resistance capacity of NATO, the United States and Europe. But we can clearly see today that Xi Jinping’s support for Vladimir Putin will very quickly find its limits. China’s interest is not to wreak havoc in Europe. We see that on the economic level, this is causing enormous disorder and China wants to invest in Europe, as we have seen with the Silk Road. So his interest is not at all that world trade is completely disrupted by this war.