Putin no ‘bother’ for Macron

– France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, hosted Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin yesterday in the latest test of his diplomatic mettle after vowing firm stands on Ukraine and Syria.

“It is essential to talk to Russia because there are many international issues that will not be resolved without a tough exchange with the Russians,” Macron said at the G7 summit in Sicily, which wound up on Saturday.

The 39-year-old centrist leader’s meeting with Putin, 64, caps a whirlwind of diplomacy, including the G7 talks, as well as last week’s Nato summit in Brussels.

He told a French weekly he was not “bothered” by leaders who “think in terms of power ratios”, citing Putin as an example along with US President Donald Trump.

But Macron, who became France’s youngest president three weeks ago, said he does not believe in “the diplomacy of public invective but in bilateral dialogue”.

As a candidate, Macron had tough words for Russia, accusing it of following a “hybrid strategy combining military intimidation and an information war”.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2014, Russia has flexed its muscles with a series of war games involving tens of thousands of troops in areas bordering Nato Baltic states.

Macron said he would make “not a single concession” to Russia on Ukraine. – AFP