French leader meets with Putin
The presidents discuss conflicts in Syria and Ukraine and election meddling accusations against Russia.
PARIS — In talks Monday at the royal palace of Versailles outside Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a variety of contentious issues, including the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine and accusations of Russian interference in the recent French elections.
The pair had an “extremely frank and direct exchange,” Macron said at a televised news conference afterward.
Macron is the first Western leader to talk with Putin since the Group of 7 summit last week in Italy, where the relationship between Europe and Russia was a focus and Macron promised a “demanding dialogue” with the Russian leader.
Relations between France and Russia became increasingly strained under Macron’s predecessor Francois Hollande, who refused to deliver two warships Moscow had ordered from France in a $1.3-billion deal. Putin canceled a planned visit to Paris in October after Hollande hinted he might refuse to meet him and suggested Russia could face war crimes charges over its participation in the bombardment of the Syrian city of Aleppo.
In March, at the height of the French presidential campaign, Putin met with Marine Le Pen, Macron’s farright opponent, at the Kremlin.
Russia supports Syrian President Bashar Assad despite his use of chemical weapons and agreement between the U.S. and its European allies, including France, that he should be removed from power.
Macron warned that the use of chemical weapons again by “anyone” would spark “retaliation and an immediate response from France.”
He called the use of such weapons one of two “red lines” that France would not allow to be crossed in Syria. The second was any attempt to block humanitarian organizations from having free and unhindered access to “innocent civilian populations” under siege.
Macron said that eradicating Islamic State and other terrorist groups was the “guiding principle of our action in Syria.”
It was a goal that Russia supports. But Putin said that Russia’s position on “the Syrian problem” was clear: “We believe that you cannot combat the terrorist threat by destroying the state.”
In terms of Ukraine, Macron said that he wanted a “de-escalation” of the conflict between Russianbacked separatists and Ukrainian forces in the eastern part of the country and that he hoped to revive talks involving Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany in the “near future.”
Macron made no mention of the current European Union sanctions against Russia for supporting the separatists or the threat by G-7 nations last week to impose additional ones if the conflict escalates.
But Putin said sanctions were the wrong tactic and should be lifted. “Sanctions against Russia cannot help solve this crisis,” he said.
Macron’s aides have also accused Russia of sponsoring a massive hacking attack on his campaign staff hours before the presidential election in May.
Putin dismissed the accusations of Russian interference, saying “there are no established facts.”