The projection is not a gaffe. Rather, it expresses a deep conviction of Emmanuel Macron. The sentence pronounced by the Head of State in order to offer “security guarantees” to Russia, when the fighting stops, has caused an outcry in the East of the European continent, more than nine months after the invasion Russian from Ukraine. ” What are we prepared to do to give guarantees for Russia’s own security the day it returns to the negotiating table? “asked the head of state, in an interview on TF1, Saturday, December 3. ” One of the essential points is the fear that NATO will come to its doors, it is the deployment of weapons that can threaten Russiae”, he explained, seeming to echo the arguments put forward by Moscow to justify its offensive.
Ukraine has been quick to react as Russia continues to destroy its civilian infrastructure in an effort to undermine the morale of its population by depriving it of heat and electricity this winter. “Someone wants to provide security guarantees to a terrorist and murderous state? »launched the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Oleksi Danilov, on Twitter.
For the Polish Deputy Foreign Minister, Marcin Przydacz, Mr. Macron “makes a mistake by saying what he says”. “Vladimir Putin has a mental structure which means that any attempt at contact, at appeasement, strengthens him psychologically”, he observed in an interview broadcast in Poland. Latvian Deputy Prime Minister Artis Pabriks, for his part, believes that the idea of giving security guarantees to Russia “is tantamount to falling into the trap of Putin’s narrative that the West and Ukraine are responsible for the war”.
“Illegible and inaudible speech”
The remarks are reminiscent of those made in May by Emmanuel Macron, when he invited “not to humiliate” Moscow, while many of Ukraine’s allies want Russia’s defeat on the ground in the first place, that is to say its complete withdrawal from the occupied territories, including Crimea, unilaterally annexed in 2014. At each time, the words of the Head of State undermine his relations with the capitals of the East of the continent, despite the military, diplomatic and financial support that France provides to Ukraine. Bruno Tertrais, Deputy Director of the Foundation for Strategic Research, talks about a “illegible and inaudible speech, and above all counterproductive for its own European agenda”.
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