Steph Deschamps / October 13, 2022
Emmanuel Macron urged Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin to "come back to the discussion table", at the beginning of a televised interview largely devoted to the war in Ukraine and its consequences for the French.
Today, first of all, Vladimir Putin must stop this war, respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine and return to the discussion table," said the French president on France 2, reproaching his counterpart for having made the "choice" to "install" Europe "in the war" with his missile strikes of the last few days and the mobilization to strengthen his army.
The one who, despite the criticisms including Ukrainian, has never broken the dialogue with the master of the Kremlin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, assured that he would continue to talk to him "whenever necessary ».
At some point, I hope as soon as possible, all stakeholders will have to come back to a discussion table," he added, while acknowledging that it will not be in the "next few weeks.
President Macron insisted that a negotiation would, in the end, also be in the "interest" of Kiev, and promised new weapons, namely anti-aircraft defense systems.
He also warned Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, one of the main allies of the Russians, that he would have "problems" if he became more involved in the conflict.
Emmanuel Macron said it was necessary to "avoid any escalation of the conflict", so that it does not spread to a country neighboring Ukraine and to prevent the use by Moscow of chemical or nuclear weapons.