Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron have not had a phone call for two months because France is an “unfriendly” country with which talks are currently not “necessary”, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron have not had a phone call for two months because France is an “unfriendly” country with which talks are currently not “necessary”, the Kremlin said on Friday. “Well, first of all, France is an unfriendly state in terms of the actions it takes regarding our country,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters, in response to a question about the lack of a recent phone conversation. between the two leaders, who had spoken several times at the beginning of the year.
“They don’t call each other because they don’t think the time is right, and right now it’s just not necessary. If the need arises, they can call each other in a minute”, said Mr. Peskov. The last official exchange between MM. Putin and Macron date back to May 28, when the two leaders notably discussed on the phone, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the fate of Ukrainian soldiers taken prisoner by the Russian army. Previously, Mr. Macron had held telephone talks with Mr. Putin in early May, early March and five times in February amid rising tensions until the Kremlin’s offensive in Ukraine on February 24. He also went in person to Moscow on February 7 to meet Mr. Putin.
These multiple contacts have earned the French president criticism, some accusing him of having maintained regular exchanges with the head of the Kremlin without managing to prevent the launch of a Russian offensive against Ukraine. Russia qualifies as “unfriendly” the countries which, like France, notably imposed sanctions against them after its intervention in Ukraine. The Kremlin has continued to extend this list of “unfriendly” countries subjected to retaliatory measures by Moscow. It now includes the United States, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Taiwan and all the members of the European Union.