France’s Elysee Palace released a phone call between Presidents Macron and Putin that took place shortly before the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
Shortly before the end of the French presidency of the Council of the EU, the French presidency published a recording of a telephone conversation between President Emmanuel Macron and Russian head of state Vladimir Putin, which took place four days before the start of the war in Ukraine. This shows how little interest Putin had in a peaceful solution to the conflict.
In it, Macron addressed the “rising tensions” and asked Putin to assess the situation, as reported by the “”. Putin, who had welcomed Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the Kremlin a few days earlier on February 15, accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of doing nothing and not wanting to implement the Minsk deal. Protests from Macron’s top diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, can be heard on the recording: “But no, what nonsense!”
Putin ignored Macron’s objections and defended the separatists. “I don’t understand your problem with the separatists. At least they did what we told them and started a constructive dialogue with the Ukrainian side,” said the Kremlin chief. Macron then lost patience. “I don’t know where your lawyer studied!” And: “I don’t know which lawyer would go so far as to claim that legal texts in a sovereign country are written by separatists and not by a democratically elected government.”
“I want to play hockey now”
Putin then said that the Zelensky government was not a democratically elected government. “She came to power through a coup, there were people who were burned alive, it was a bloodbath and Zelensky is one of those responsible.” Macron has openly questioned Putin’s willingness to respect the Minsk accords. Putin replied that more pressure should have been put on the Ukrainians.
Macron called for calm. “If we want to give dialogue a chance, we have to calm the game. How do you see the military maneuvers?” asked the Frenchman. “The maneuvers are going according to plan,” Putin replied. night,” Macron asked. “Yes, probably tonight,” Putin said.
Responding to Macron’s suggestion that Putin should meet US President Joe Biden in Geneva “in the coming days” – which Biden had indicated his willingness to do – Putin said: “It is a proposal that deserves attention.” said Putin. Macron: “I suggest that our advisers draw up a joint text.” Putin impatiently: “In order not to hide anything from you, I want to play ice hockey now, I will talk to you from my gym, where I will start Training. I will call my advisor first.”
On French TV on June 30
On June 30, a documentary about the war in Ukraine will be broadcast on France 2, the French state television channel. This phone call should also be shown there.
>> Full text of the phone call (in French)
(Red.)