Emmanuel Macron wants to make progress on civil nuclear power in Ukraine
Emmanuel Macron announced on Saturday that he would be speaking to Vladimir Putin “soon” about security issues relating to “civilian nuclear power” in Ukraine. But before that, he announced in Le Parisien that he would “reconvene” with Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), on Sunday.
The French President recalls that during his visit to the United States this week he spent “many hours” talking with American President Joe Biden about the war in Ukraine and its implications “in order to have a common mandate”.
“On this basis, I will soon be able to have concrete talks with President Putin on the issue of civil nuclear energy,” he added, specifying that he would first speak to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The last official meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin was on September 11th.
The French President said last week that he primarily wanted to “make direct contact with the Russian President” about civilian nuclear power and the Zaporiya power plant. Meanwhile, on Friday, Putin phoned Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who called for Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine in order to reach a “diplomatic solution.”
We coordinate very closely with Mr. Scholz and I think it is very good that we are in regular contact with each other,” said Mr. Macron on Saturday on TF1 with Mr. Putin.
The French leader said he spoke in particular to President Biden about “the security architecture we want to live in tomorrow”. Because “one of the main points” for Vladimir Putin “is the fear that NATO will come to its gates, it is the use of weapons that can threaten Russia”.
“This topic will become part of the peace topics (…). How we protect our allies and member states [de l’OTAN] by giving Russia guarantees of its own security the day it returns to the negotiating table,” he argued.