After the words of the American president, who called his Russian counterpart a “butcher”, Emmanuel Macron warned on Sunday against an “escalation of words and actions in Ukraine”.
Emmanuel Macron warned on Sunday against an “escalation of words and actions in Ukraine”, after the remarks of American President Joe Biden, who called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin a “butcher”.
“I would not use this kind of remark because I continue to discuss with President Putin”, declared the president, in “Sunday in politics”, on France 3.
He was questioned about the strong statements of Joe Biden the day before in Warsaw, who called Mr. Putin a “butcher” for the crimes committed according to him by the Russian army in Ukraine, and who described the war in this country as a “strategic failure for Russia”. “We want to stop the war that Russia has launched in Ukraine without going to war. This is the objective” and “if we want to do this, we must not escalate either words or actions”, said Emmanuel Macron.
“We are not at war with the Russian people”
“We Europeans must not give in to some escalation. We Europeans must not forget our geography and our history. We are not at war with the Russian people,” he insisted, emphasizing that Europe was no longer in the context of the “Cold War” between Moscow and Washington.
Emmanuel Macron also indicated that he would speak to the Russian president “tomorrow (Monday) or the day after tomorrow (Tuesday)” to organize an evacuation operation for residents of the city of Mariupol, in the south-east of the Ukraine, under siege and bombardment for weeks.
This operation, which he announced on Friday following the NATO and G7 summits in Brussels, must be carried out “as quickly as possible, absolutely in the very next few days”, with Turkey, Greece and the organizations humanitarian organizations, in collaboration with the Ukrainian authorities and the mayor of Mariupol, whose “heroism” he hailed. Warning against “the cynicism of the Russian side” on the subject, Emmanuel Macron stressed that there was “international humanitarian law”, which “we intend to enforce”. “This must not be a Russian-driven humanitarian operation,” he warned.
More than 2,000 civilians were killed in Mariupol, according to a recent report communicated by the town hall. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, some 100,000 people are still stranded in this strategic port on the Sea of Azov.