On the sidelines of his trip to the United States, French President Emmanuel Macron made statements in which he called for consideration of “guarantees” to be offered to Russia in terms of security to bring about peace negotiations. His words caused a strong reaction, particularly from Russia’s immediate neighbours.
During his trip to Washington, Emmanuel Macron answered questions from French channel TF1 journalists on the international situation. Putin’s fears about unlimited NATO expansion are a real problem that must be taken into account, the French president explained. “One of the essential points we must address—as President Putin has always said—is the fear that NATO comes right up to its doors and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia,” he said.
Macron believes that the peace talks cannot afford to ignore this issue. Several months after the start of the conflict, Macron once again echoes the major points of tension raised by the Russians in February, before the war broke out: no more NATO enlargement, no missile deployments near Russian borders, and a scaling back of NATO’s military infrastructure in Europe to 1997 levels. At the time, the United States considered these preconditions unthinkable.
The Russian news agency TASS, usually very critical of the French president, quoted precisely from Emmanuel Macron’s TF1 interview and made several statements about the French president in the days that followed.
Linas Linkevičus, former Lithuanian minister of defence and foreign affairs, expressed his indignation at the French president’s controversial remarks: “Russia has all security guarantees if it doesn’t attack, annex or occupy its neighbours,” Linkevičus replied on Twitter. “If anyone wants to create a new security architecture that allows a terrorist state to continue its methods of intimidation, they should think again, it will (not) fly.”
The same echo was heard from Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, who explained that the only security guarantees to be taken into account are those designed to guard against the barbarity of post-Putin Russia.
President Macron’s polemical viewpoint arouses indignation in the East but reminds us of an objective reality: Russia will not give in easily on issues that are deemed crucial to its security. Both the United States and Russia have indicated their openness to peace talks, but the conditions are not, in Ukraine’s view, in place. The Ukrainian regime is demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops as a necessary condition for peace talks, a premise Russia would certainly reject as unacceptable.
Faced with a wave of criticism for his remarks, Macron tried to defend himself on his arrival in Albania for the EU-Balkans summit. “I think we should not make a big deal and try to see polemics where there are none,” he said. “I have always said the same thing, that in the end, in the peace talks, there will be territorial issues regarding Ukraine and they belong to the Ukrainians and there will be collective security issues throughout the whole region,” he added.
He also said that he had discussed with Joe Biden the future “security architecture” to be developed after the war in Eastern Europe.
