The Munich conference ended this Sunday, February 19 and the war in Ukraine will have occupied a large part of the debates and speeches. It is in this context that French President Emmanuel Macron said he wanted a Russian defeat in Ukraine while saying he wanted to avoid Russia being ” crushed “. In Moscow, it was rather with circumspection that the words of the French president were received.
With our correspondent in Moscow, Julian Colling
Emmanuel Macron’s statements particularly caught the attention of Russian diplomacy on Sunday. The spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the always very talkative Maria Zakharova, did not hesitate to answer him on her Telegram channel. And to point to a Macronian word that would have ” little value “, because of an incoherent speech on the part of the French president.
Maria Zakharova believes that Macron’s position is untenable and that he contradicts himself: as a member of NATO, France can only follow the general will of a military defeat from Moscow – even when Macron assures do not want “ crush Russia and hope for a negotiated outcome. Because during this time, Paris continues to deliver weapons to Ukraine, denounces the diplomat.
Other experts in geopolitics, such as the renowned Fiodor Loukianov, on the contrary, describe the position of the Head of State as ” nuanced », « the only one that can be described as truly European “.
But that’s not all, other remarks by the French president also made the pro-Kremlin channels react. At the Munich Security Conference, Macron declared that he was not in favor of the policy of ” diet change “, after a plethora of failures at the world level. It didn’t take much for these Russian commentators to see an admission that indeed the West had been trying for years to overthrow Russian power.
An episode which is not likely to help in any case the climate of paranoia which reigns in Moscow, around the intentions of the Western bloc and NATO.
► To read also Emmanuel Macron wants “the defeat” of Russia against Ukraine, without “crushing” Moscow