Jacques Serais, edited by Laura Laplaud
modified to
10:35 a.m., February 07, 2022
While Emmanuel Macron warned Vladimir Putin at the end of January during his trip to Berlin, the French president is now playing the de-escalation card in the Ukrainian file. Can he achieve it? Response in the evening in Moscow where the head of state meets the master of the Kremlin.
It’s a face-off at the top. Emmanuel Macron meets Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday. For the Head of State, President of the Council of the European Union for six months, a single objective: de-escalation. He also coordinated Sunday evening with his American counterpart, Joe Biden.
An eye-to-eye encounter
The two leaders have things to say to each other: their meeting should last nearly three hours. The start of the meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Moscow, 4 p.m. in Paris. A strict tete-a-tete within the walls of the Kremlin where only translators and possibly note takers will be present. Neither ministers nor diplomats will be alongside the two heads of state.
Emmanuel Macron expected in Moscow. Meeting at 6 p.m. local time (4 p.m. Paris time) with Vladimir Poutine. What are the stakes of this interview? What does the French PR intend to say to his Russian counterpart? The live point in the 8 a.m. newspaper @Europe1 with @dimitripavlenko & @F_Marsot#Ukrainepic.twitter.com/mO6Ni0dCZB
— Jacques Serais (@JacquesSerais) February 7, 2022
During their last telephone conversation, Vladimir Poutine warned Emmanuel Macron: “I’m waiting for you, I want to get to the bottom of things with you.” According to the Élysée, the Russian president also added that he considered his French counterpart to be a “quality interlocutor”.
Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin in the shapes of Russian dolls in a souvenir shop near Red Square in Moscow.
Credits: Jacques Serais, Europe 1
Emmanuel Macron’s objective is clear: to carry the interests of France’s partners and allies, in other words, to play the role of representative and mediator in this crisis. “We can’t settle everything,” admits one of his advisers. But the ambition is to lower the tension, to obtain progress, elements that could contribute to de-escalation.
Emmanuel Macron, leader of Europe?
Especially since Emmanuel Macron will then go to Ukraine and then Germany. He will be in Kiev on Tuesday morning and in Berlin in the afternoon, for a summit between France, Germany and Poland. The tenant of the Élysée will do everything to put Europe back at the center of the diplomatic game. A way for him to also try to put on a leader’s costume. A bet two months before the presidential election.