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In “Sensitive Affairs”, a look back at a tense moment during the first meeting between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron
In “Sensitive Affairs”, a look back at a tense moment during the first meeting between Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron
(SENSITIVE AFFAIRS / FRANCE 2)
Emmanuel Macron has long remained in favor of a dialogue with Vladimir Putin… while displaying his firmness against the master of the Kremlin. “Sensitive Affairs” recounts their first meeting, a prelude to the diplomatic strategy of the French president facing his Russian counterpart. In this extract, a look back at a moment of tension, when Moscow’s attempts to interfere in the 2017 presidential campaign were discussed.
In May 2017, five years before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin was already ostracized by the international community: the Russian regime intervened in eastern Ukraine and militarily supported that of Bashar al-Assad. in Syria. However, he is the first head of state that Emmanuel Macron chooses to officially receive… in a very symbolic place, the Palace of Versailles. In the afternoon, the two presidents spoke to the press. One question will ignite the powder: it concerns suspicions of Russian interference in the French presidential election.
Deemed not to be very Russophile, the current French head of state was far from being the Kremlin’s favorite, and we know that Vladimir Putin would have preferred the right-wing candidate, François Fillon. From February 2017, various rumors and “fake news” about the candidate Macron were spread by two Russian media financed by the Kremlin and established in France, Russia Today and Sputnik (both banned from the European Union after the invasion of Ukraine). En Marche, candidate Macron’s party, suffered a multitude of computer attacks throughout the campaign: more than a thousand in total.
150,000 emails from En Marche employees published on the Web
On the eve of the second round, on May 5, 2017, En Marche was targeted by a major cyberattack. Following a hack, 150,000 emails from its employees were published on the internet. For the journalist Nicolas Hénin, author of Russian France – Investigation into Putin networks (ed. Fayard), the identity of the culprit leaves little doubt: “The hack bears the signature of the GRU, Russian military intelligence.”
In Versailles, when the journalist asks if the subject was raised during the tête-à-tête, Vladimir Putin assures us that no – and slips away that for him, there is no subject.
“There’s a slogan: ‘Don’t believe anything until the Kremlin denies it.’ Basically, nothing is ever certain until the Kremlin says, ‘It’s not us.’ And then, it’s good, we know that it really happened, and that it’s really them. “
Nicolas Hénin, journalist, author of an investigation into the Putin networks
in “Sensitive matters”
Emmanuel Macron corrects: “We talked about it when President Putin called me to congratulate me. I’m a pragmatist, so when I’ve said things once, I’m not in the habit of going back on them.” This firmness, which the French president’s diplomatic advisor welcomes, is deciphered as follows by Nicolas Hénin: “It’s ‘I’m tapping you on the shoulder by inviting you to Versailles, and I’m coming to give you a little jab like that, just to remind you that I’m also part of the powerful virile gang’.”
Excerpt from “Poutine-Macron: the face-to-face of the presidents”, to be seen again on March 31, 2024 in “Sensitive Affairs”, a co-production France Télévisions, France TV presse, France Inter and the INA, adapted from a program from France Inter.
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