Macron: Putin shouldn’t be humiliated over
‘historic’ mistake
Invasion of Ukraine has left Russia ‘isolated,’ French
president says.
"He has made a historic and fundamental
mistake," Macron said |
BY GABRIELA
GALINDO
June 4,
2022 3:38 pm
https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-putin-ukraine-invasion-mistake/
French
President Emmanuel Macron said the West should not “humiliate” Russian
President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine so as to preserve the chance to find a
diplomatic solution to the “historic” mistake of invading the country.
“We must
not humiliate Russia so that the day when the fighting stops we can build an
exit ramp through diplomatic means,” Macron said in an interview Friday with
regional media, stressing that France would play a key mediating role.
“I think,
and I have told him, that he has made a historic and fundamental mistake for
his people, for himself and for history,” Macron said. “I think he isolated
himself. Taking refuge in isolation is one thing, but finding a way out is a difficult
thing.”
The French
president has faced pressure from Baltic and Eastern European states for
continuing to talk with Putin since the start of the war and has faced pushback
from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over suggestions that Ukraine cede
some of its territory to Russia to help Putin save face.
In a speech
last month, Macron said Europe must “never give in to the temptation of
humiliation, nor the spirit of revenge,” when it comes to Russia’s invasion of
Ukraine “because these have already in the past wreaked enough havoc on the
roads to peace.”
While
France has lent military support to Ukraine, Macron has not yet visited Ukraine
to show support, unlike top EU and U.S. officials like European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen.
Questioned
about the possibility of a visit, the French leader said on Friday: “Today, I
do not rule out anything.”
Macron
added that France wanted to increase its military and financial support to Kyiv
and “do everything” to free blockaded Ukrainian grain.
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