PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron defended his continued diplomatic efforts and phone calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin following the invasion of Ukraine, slamming criticism of his efforts as “mistaken morality.”
Talking to French ambassadors gathered on the Elysée Palace on Thursday, Macron questioned the choice in western capitals to shut traces of communication with the Kremlin.
“The job of a diplomat is to speak to everyone and notably to the individuals we disagree with,” he mentioned at his yearly tackle on overseas coverage. “Who needs Turkey to be the one world energy that’s speaking to Russia? … We should not give in to any type of mistaken morality that will search to weaken us.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has a troublesome relationship with Macron, has been searching for to forged himself as a mediator over the Ukraine warfare, assembly each Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Macron has remained dedicated to his diplomatic efforts with Russia and spoke to the Russian president on August 19, following a interval of silence. The dialog targeted on security on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant.
The French president’s endeavors got here underneath fireplace from NATO allies, notably in Jap Europe, who questioned the utility of his conversations with Putin. Macron’s feedback that Russia “shouldn’t be humiliated” to arrange for a future diplomatic exit ramp additionally sparked a wave of condemnation and raised suspicions he was prepared to make concessions to Russia. The Elysée has repeatedly denied such claims.
Throughout his speech on Thursday, Macron slammed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as an “imperialist” warfare and insisted “Russia can’t be allowed to win the warfare.”
“We wish to work in direction of both a victory for Ukraine or a negotiated peace reached with situations which might be acceptable to Ukraine,” he mentioned.
One of many principal threads of Macron’s wide-ranging overseas affairs speech to ambassadors was that the world was more and more susceptible to changing into divided into totally different blocs following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.
“We’ve by no means been depending on any world energy. We’ve all the time stored our independence. However now will we be compelled to decide on?” he requested.
Macron argued in favor of sustaining French and European “independence” within the confrontation between the U.S. and China, to be able to proceed discussions on local weather change and regional points.
“[Independence] doesn’t imply equal remedy. The U.S. are our allies. However we don’t wish to depend upon them,” he mentioned.
He additionally cautioned in opposition to letting splits emerge amongst EU members within the face of the Russian aggression and amid warnings the vitality disaster and rising inflation may result in divisions.
“We should not let Europe be divided by this warfare. European unity is essential. The division of Europe was one among Russia’s purpose of the warfare,” he mentioned.