PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron defended his continued diplomatic efforts and phone calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine, slamming criticism of his efforts as “mistaken morality.”
Chatting with French ambassadors gathered on the Elysée Palace on Thursday, Macron questioned the choice in western capitals to shut strains of communication with the Kremlin.
“The job of a diplomat is to speak to everyone and notably to the folks we disagree with,” he stated at his yearly handle on international coverage. “Who desires Turkey to be the one world energy that’s speaking to Russia? … We should not give in to any type of mistaken morality that may search to weaken us.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has a tough relationship with Macron, has been in search of to solid himself as a mediator over the Ukraine conflict, assembly each Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Macron has remained dedicated to his diplomatic efforts with Russia and spoke to the Russian president on August 19, following a interval of silence. The dialog centered on security on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant.
The French president’s endeavors got here below fireplace from NATO allies, notably in Jap Europe, who questioned the utility of his conversations with Putin. Macron’s feedback that Russia “shouldn’t be humiliated” to arrange for a future diplomatic exit ramp additionally sparked a wave of condemnation and raised suspicions he was prepared to make concessions to Russia. The Elysée has repeatedly denied such claims.
Throughout his speech on Thursday, Macron slammed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “imperialist” conflict and insisted “Russia can’t be allowed to win the conflict.”
“We wish to work in direction of both a victory for Ukraine or a negotiated peace reached with situations which might be acceptable to Ukraine,” he stated.
One of many major threads of Macron’s wide-ranging international affairs speech to ambassadors was that the world was more and more prone to turning into divided into totally different blocs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
“We’ve by no means been depending on any world energy. We’ve all the time saved our independence. However now will we be compelled to decide on?” he requested.
Macron argued in favor of sustaining French and European “independence” within the confrontation between the U.S. and China, to be able to proceed discussions on local weather change and regional points.
“[Independence] doesn’t imply equal therapy. The U.S. are our allies. However we don’t wish to rely upon them,” he stated.
He additionally cautioned in opposition to letting splits emerge amongst EU members within the face of the Russian aggression and amid warnings the vitality disaster and rising inflation might result in divisions.
“We should not let Europe be divided by this conflict. European unity is vital. The division of Europe was one in all Russia’s goal of the conflict,” he stated.
