French President Emmanuel Macron said the “paradox” of his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, is that he is personally not an “unpleasant” person.
Macron took part in Saturday’s episode of Les Rencontres du Papotin – a show in which autistic journalists interview famous people, writes dir.bg.
“First of all, when you get to know him, he’s not unpleasant. That’s the paradox, you see,” Macron said in the interview, which was taped in late November.
Macron said Putin “tried to explain to him that Ukraine threatens him because through it the Europeans and Americans threaten Russia’s security.”
“I think nothing can justify starting a war. In fact, he started this war in order to recapture territories and expand the perimeter of Russia to the former empire. He took on a very big responsibility for himself, for his people, obviously for the people of Ukraine and for all of us. That’s how I see it,” Macron said.
Macron has long been a proponent of maintaining a dialogue with Putin since his invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
In the summer, he angered Kiev by saying Western governments shouldn’t “humiliate” the Russian president.
In recent days, however, the French leader has become the first Western ally to agree to send Western armored vehicles to Ukraine, a major policy shift.
In his televised New Year’s speech, Macron also promised Ukrainians that France “will lead you to victory” – the first time he has explicitly supported Kiev’s victory on the battlefield.
