WASHINGTON: Emmanuel Macron while speaking today on the eve of his US visit has warned against showing any weakness towards Vladimir Putin.
Macron insisted that he wanted to work with him: “He’s strong and smart. But don’t be naive. He’s obsessed by interference in our democracies.
“I do believe that we should never be weak with President Putin. When you are weak, he uses it,” Macron said.
“And it’s fine. That’s a game, that he made a lot of fake news. He has a very strong propaganda, and he intervenes everywhere… to fragilize our democracies.
“Because he thinks it’s good for his country…I think he’s a very strong man, he’s a strong president. He wants a great Russia.
“He is extremely tough with minorities and his opponents, with an idea of democracy which is not mine…I respect him. I know him. I’m lucid. I want to work with him, knowing everything about that,” Macron added.
Macron is hosted by President Donald Trump, whose time in office has been clouded by suspicion that his campaign conspired with Russia to tilt the election in his favor, and by his own ambivalent attitude to Moscow.
Macron’s comments also came as foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations gathered in Toronto to seek a common front against what they view as Russian aggression in Ukraine, as well as Russia’s role in supporting Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and an alleged attempt to kill a defector on British soil.
