He is one of the privileged interlocutors of the master of the Kremlin. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has regularly exchanged with Vladimir Putin during long telephone conversations, often lasting an hour and a half. The two heads of state have met four times since February 24, the date of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The French president had previously tried to defuse the conflict by going to Moscow on February 7 and continuing his telephone exchanges with his Russian counterpart.
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Since December 2021, Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron have spoken fourteen times. Either at the request of the tenant of the Elysée, or at that of the Russian autocrat, or even at that of the Ukrainian president. Vladimir Putin categorically refusing to speak with Volodymyr Zelensky, Emmanuel Macron then serves as an intermediary.
However, the results of this intense telephone diplomacy appear to be very slight. War is raging in Ukraine, attempts to set up humanitarian corridors have so far failed and the threshold of two million refugees has now been crossed. “Yes, it seems meager, however success in diplomacy is not judged over a day but over the long term”, shade Sylvie Bermann, French Ambassador to Russia from 2017 to 2019. “It would be even worse and more dangerous if no one was able to talk to Vladimir Putin”she adds, recalling that other leaders, such as the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett, or the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, interact with the Russian leader.
“Not talking to Vladimir Putin does not allow to find diplomatic solutions“, assures franceinfo the entourage of Emmanuel Macron. “We need to have contact with him to send him the message of a ceasefire and respect for humanitarian law”we press again.
“We still hope that the cost of the war and the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people can, at some point, make Putin say that this cost is too great and that it is necessary to negotiate. It is a thread, very fine, but if it ever exists, it would be a shame not to seize it.”
Emmanuel Macron’s entourageat franceinfo
The idea is clear: to keep an open discussion channel in case Vladimir Putin decides to negotiate. For now, the Russian president is determined to achieve his goals, be it “by negotiation or by war”, he reminded Emmanuel Macron on March 6. Objectives – demilitarization and “denazification” of Ukraine, renunciation of the latter to NATO, recognition of the annexation of Crimea and guarantee of a “neutral status” for Ukraine – unacceptable for the Ukrainian power. In the meantime, Vladimir Putin does not hesitate to exploit these phone calls. The Elysee, for example, was forced to deny that the evacuation of civilians in Ukraine to Russia and Belarus was a request from Emmanuel Macron. “The president reacted immediately by condemning Vladimir Putin’s cynicism, Western public opinion is not fooled”slice Sylvie Bermann.
The challenge of these telephone exchanges is also to “breaking the Russian narrative”in the words of Emmanuel Macron’s entourage, all for historical purposes. “This allows us to document all the commitments that he does not respect, it is important for History. When he says, for example, that he does not bombard the civilian populations, this allows us to document that he denies attacking civilians”we explain.
“There will be accounts in the history books. It is important to document what Russia says, and historians will judge.”
Emmanuel Macron’s entourageat franceinfo
The issue is also Franco-French. “We must let public opinion know that France is doing everything possible to resolve the situation”, analyzes Gaspard Gantzer, former communications adviser to François Hollande. And to remember that “we are very largely spectators” of this conflict since “It’s the Ukrainians who are fighting” and “sanctions are taken at European level”. But, he asserts, “Emmanuel Macron, a fortiori in the middle of the presidential campaign, is keen to show that he is acting”.
The official photographer of the Elysée, Soazig de La Moissonnière, has also been staging the presidential action since the beginning of the conflict. On his Instagram page, we see an Emmanuel Macron, in the golden salon of the palace, which we imagine exchanging with Vladimir Poutine.
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The President of the Republic is also portrayed with his close guard who systematically attends these exchanges with the Russian head of state. They are, France Inter lists, Emmanuel Bonne, its diplomatic adviser, Alice Rufo, strategy and defense expert, Isabelle Dumont, continental Europe adviser, and Anne-Sophie Bradelle, for international communication. .
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These calls also allow the head of state and his advisers to take the pulse of the Russian president. “It allows us to see in what state of mind he is. The last conversations show that he is very determined”, we slip at the Elysée. Those who have worked with Vladimir Putin can easily imagine what these exchanges can look like. “They must be painful because he is a complicated interlocutor, we cannot trust him”book Gaspard Gantzer.
“Vladimir Putin is cold as ice, very unpleasant and only in the balance of power and intimidation.”
Gaspard Gantzer, former adviser to François Hollandeat franceinfo
Ambassador Sylvie Bermann also attended talks between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine when she was stationed in Russia. “I can’t tell you there was a relationship of trust, but I think there was a certain respect and a willingness to get to the bottom of things”, she recalls. Since then, the emergence of the pandemic has changed the situation, Vladimir Putin fearing to catch the Covid. “He cut himself off from the world for two years, he is completely isolated and very poorly informed. He locked himself in his obsessions”notes the diplomat.
In fact, according to Emmanuel Macron’s entourage, the Putinian rhetoric developed during the telephone exchanges between the two heads of state is quite similar to that which the Russian president delivers in public: “He justifies himself on the reasons for this war, Ukraine would be made up of Nazis, President Zelensky would be a Nazi and the Russians would do a charitable act to rid the world of a people of Nazis.” Faced with this totally irrational discourse, how can you imagine making someone who sees himself in office bend until 2036? “It’s a challengeadmits Sylvie Bermann, but there is no alternative but to speak to him. When the weapons stop, he will still be in power and we will have to talk to him.”