The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Macron confronts Putin on key issues
Syria and gay rights are among topics in their first meeting.
VERSAILLES, FRANCE — France’s newly elected president, Emmanuel Macron, came out of his first meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Monday with a message of stark challenge, promising French military reprisals for any use of chemical weapons by Russia’s allies in Syria and saying he would closely monitor the curtailing of civil rights for gay people in Chechnya.
Against the gilded backdrop of the Palace of Versailles, Macron and Putin pledged to work with each other to fight terrorism. But their body language was at times tense, and the sometimes confrontational tone of the meeting was made clear in Macron’s comments afterward during a joint news conference, where he signaled his intent to play a forceful role on the global stage and not be cowed by other world leaders.
With Putin standing beside him, he accused two news organizations with ties to Russia of acting as “organs of influence” rather than as true outlets for journalism. And he publicly warned the Russian leader that the use of chemical weapons was a “red line” for France. “The use of chemical weapons by anyone will be the object of reprisals and immediate retaliation on the part of France,” he said.
Putin has strongly backed President Bashar Assad of Syria, whose forces have been accused of using chemical weapons as recently as April. The Russian president did not respond directly to Macron’s implicit challenge.
The visit by Putin, at Macron’s invitation, was described as a working meeting timed to coincide with the opening of a show at the Grand Trianon, a château within the Versailles complex. The exhibition celebrates the ties between Russia and France forged 300 years ago by Peter the Great when he visited France after encouraging diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Macron made a point of opening the news conference by summarizing the long cultural ties between the two countries in literature, culture and philosophy and by noting that “no essential issue can be handled today without talking with Russia.”
The meeting was Macron’s first with the Russian leader, and he appeared intent on introducing himself as a new factor for Russia to take into consideration on the European stage. It was also a chance for Macron to show France and the rest of Europe what kinds of issues will matter to him in international relations.
Macron, who was elected three weeks ago, recently returned from his first meeting with NATO and Group of 7 leaders, but in those meetings he was part of a larger group and the agenda was collective. On Monday, he appeared set on opening discussions on a variety of topics, including Russia’s involvement in Ukraine and Syria.
For his part, Putin appeared to want to re-establish the relatively warm relations the two countries have had in the past and to use the meeting as an opportunity to underscore Russia’s position in a number of policy areas.
Not least of those is its demand for lifting European economic sanctions against Russia that were put in place after the annexation of Crimea and meddling in Ukraine.
Macron had plenty of reasons for personal animus toward Russia. Reports by cybersecurity firms found that groups tied to Russia had targeted his campaign in a hacking attack, and rumors about him were disseminated by Russian-allied news outlets.
He chose to put the issue behind him, saying it had already been discussed and he was not in the habit of revisiting topics.
Putin quashed the issue even more emphatically. “For what is called Russian interference in the elections of this or that country, it was not a question that we took up: The French president did not manifest any interest and me, even less,” he said.
On human rights, Macron said he had raised the troubles facing gay and transgender people in Chechnya as well as those of nongovernmental organizations.
Macron said that he had discussed the reports of collective punishment of gay men in Chechnya with Putin and that they had agreed on a “very regular monitoring” of the situation.