The head of state has been sharply criticized for continuing dialogue with President Vladimir Putin after the start of Russia’s offensive in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 and for demanding in a future peace deal “not to humiliate Russia”. Since then, contacts between the two leaders have been severed, although the Elysée rejects any interruption in dialogue and Emmanuel Macron is now calling for increased support for Kiev “until Ukraine’s victory”.
“Russia cannot and must not win this war and Russian aggression must fail because we cannot accept the downplaying of the illegal use of force, otherwise the entire European security and global stability in general would be called into question.”
“Russia cannot and must not win this war and Russian aggression must fail because we cannot accept the downplaying of the illegal use of force, because otherwise the entire European security and more generally global stability would be called into question,” he said.
Vladimir Putin’s “Mistakes”.
Emmanuel Macron then spent a year militarily shelling out Vladimir Putin’s “failures” “on the ground,” pushing Ukraine toward the EU and NATO and toward Russian public opinion. “The basic assumption was that this aggression would be quick, that Ukraine would not resist and that it would be a matter of a few days, even a few weeks,” he recalled.
The result of the Russian offensive was “the consolidation of Ukraine and its strength” and the decision of Sweden and Finland to join NATO, which Russia has constantly denounced colonization on its borders, he said.
“Perhaps the most troubling failure today is President Putin’s failure to give back to Russia what he promised that Russia would be his authority in the world,” he added, citing a “mediocre” Russian gross domestic product and “shrinking” demographics. “If you want to solidify your future, you need some wild dreams. Either you dream of growth and innovation, of a new Europe based on peace and education, or you revive the old imperial dream based on hegemony and aggression,” he said.
“Power of Imbalance and Disorder”
He also accused Russia of being a “power of imbalance and disorder” not only in the former Soviet space but also in the Middle East and Africa “through” the Wagner Group mercenaries.