Macron says France will not recognize Crimea ‘annexation’
PARIS: President Emmanuel Macron said Monday France refuses to recognize Russia’s “annexation” of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.
Speaking after talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Paris, Macron said: “France is committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty with its recognized borders.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday visited Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, in a trip that Kiev condemned as a violation of its sovereignty.
Western powers accuse Russia of failing to honor its commitments under the Minsk accords framework for ending the violence between government forces and Kremlin-backed rebels in Ukraine’s east.
EU leaders agreed last week to extend stringent economic sanctions against Russia for another six months, saying Moscow had failed to meet its commitments on the cease-fire in Ukraine.
The French Foreign Ministry said OSCE observers in Ukraine were being subjected to “unacceptable intimidation and obstacles.”
When Macron met Putin in May, shortly after the new French leader took office, he admitted the two had “disagreed on a number of things.”
A cease-fire agreement signed in February 2015 in Minsk aims to end the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists. Each side accuses the other of violating the truce.
At a joint news conference, Macron also said that he did not agree with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s view that the hostilities in Ukraine could be resolved outside of the Minsk accord framework.
Macron said he had seen no alternative proposal from the US and that the basis for a deal remained one from within the Minsk accord, which had been agreed upon by all sides and needed to be implemented.