On the plane that brought him back from the Munich Security Conference, the President of the Republic confided in Le Figaro, the Sunday Journal and France Inter.
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2/18/2023 at 9:06 PM, updated 2/19/2023 at 9:42 AM
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Emmanuel Macron in Munich. UNUSUAL ANDERSEN / AFP
On the plane that brought him back from the Munich Security Conference, Emmanuel Macron confided in Le Figaro, Le Journal du dimanche and France Inter. He said he wanted Moscow to “defeat” Ukraine, while warning those who “above all want to destroy Russia” will “never” be “France’s position”.
“I want Russia to be defeated in Ukraine and I want Ukraine to be able to defend its position, but I am convinced that in the end it will not be decided militarily,” said the French leader. “I don’t think, like some, that Russia should be completely defeated and attacked on its soil. Above all, these observers want to destroy Russia. That has never been France’s position and never will be,” he added.
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These observers, he says, appear to be the ones who are particularly hardline in Eastern Europe, who in May 2022 had harshly criticized his comments that Russia should not be “humiliated”. In that interview, conducted Friday night on the plane that was taking him back from Germany, where he was attending the annual Munich Security Conference, the President reiterated his desire to promote a negotiated outcome.
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In his speech in the Bavarian city he had already considered that Russia should “fail” in Ukraine, but some observers had accused him of not having gone so far as to provoke a necessary “defeat” for Moscow. He also stated that it was necessary to “intensify” support for Kiev in order to seek “credible negotiations”.
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“What is needed today is for Ukraine to lead a military offensive that disrupts the Russian frontline to trigger a return to negotiations,” he told Le Figaro, JDD and France Inter. In his opinion, “neither side can win completely”, “neither Ukraine nor Russia, because the impact of mobilization is not as great as expected and itself has capacity limits”.
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Emmanuel Macron also believes that “all options except Vladimir Putin within the current system” seem “worse” to him than the Russian president, alluding to tough guys like Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev or Russian Security Council head of paramilitary group Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin.
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“Do we sincerely believe that after these years of hardening and full conflict, a democratic solution will emerge from the Russian civil society present on the ground? I really want it, but I don’t really believe in it,” he warned.
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