“Your country will pay dearly because it will end up as an isolated country, weakened and under sanctions for a very long time,” Macron told Putin, according to a French official, who added that Macron “urged Vladimir Putin not to lie to himself.”
The conversation, which the French presidency said was initiated by Putin, took place when Ukrainian officials were to hold talks with a Russian delegation, according to Russian and Ukrainian officials. But based on the exchange of the two leaders on Thursday, there was no indication that a diplomatic solution could emerge, according to French officials.
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The Kremlin’s press service quoted Putin as telling Macron that the goals of the “special military operation” – a term the Kremlin uses to describe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – “will be met anyway.”
“Attempts to gain time by procrastinating the talks will only lead to additional demands on Kyiv in our negotiating position,” Putin told Macron, according to testimony.
A senior French official, speaking on condition of anonymity as a practice of the French government, said Putin’s remarks reflected “a determination to continue the military operation and continue it to the end”.
According to Kremlin news, Putin also emerged addressing the nation Macron gave on Wednesday, condemning Putin’s “brutal attack” on Ukraine and saying “Putin chose war.”
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In his speech, Macron also said that Putin’s claims that he wanted to “denazify” Ukraine were “a lie” and “an insult to the history of Russia and Ukraine, to the memory of our elders who fought side by side against Nazism.”
Responding directly to these comments on Thursday, the Kremlin’s news service said Putin disagreed with “many points” raised in Macron’s address, and he denied that Russia was behind the shelling of major Ukrainian cities – despite vast evidence to the contrary.
Macron is the only Western leader to maintain constant public contact with Putin since the invasion of Ukraine, in an attempt that the French presidency described as an attempt to keep the door open for meaningful talks. Putin and Macron also spoke on Monday and last Thursday.
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Prior to the invasion, Macron made Western efforts to prevent the crisis from escalating through diplomatic channels, traveling to Moscow last month to save Putin. Since mid-December, the two leaders have spoken a dozen times, according to the French presidency. Macron is also in frequent contact with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, most recently on Thursday after calling on Putin.
Robin Dixon of Moscow and Claire Parker of Washington contributed to the report.