While advocating a speech of firmness in the face of the Russian invasion and support for Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron is convinced of the need to keep open the channels of discussion with the Kremlin. But, invited this Thursday morning to the morning of France Inter, François Hollande made fun of the past attitude of his successor at the Elysée against Vladimir Poutine.
“Emmanuel Macron is like a part of the political class that always has for Vladimir Putin – I’m not saying for Russia, but for Vladimir Putin – a certain amount of indulgences,” he denounced.
“In reality, it would be our fault: we would not have talked enough, we would have surrounded him, we would even have attacked him,” continues the former president.
For François Hollande, this view stems from a primary misjudgment: “There is an illusion that we could link Vladimir Putin to Europe, (…) but that is not Vladimir Putin’s intention at all!”
Putin “practices with exceptional brilliance the art of lying”
The former head of state, however, pointed out Emmanuel Macron’s change of course at this point in the face of the evolution of the geopolitical situation and Ukraine’s aggression: “Emmanuel Macron was taken, and in particular in the period that preceded the war, to see that Vladimir Putin practiced the art of lying with exceptional brilliance”.
On the other hand, François Hollande approved the policy of sanctions against Russia carried out in particular by Emmanuel Macron, while, as our Elabe poll “L’Opinion en direct” showed on Wednesday, our fellow citizens are increasingly skeptical about the effectiveness. of these retaliatory measures. “If sanctions weren’t hurting Russia, its economy, its technologies, do you think Vladimir Putin would be threatening today to stop supplying gas?” he rhetorically questioned François Hollande, adding: “It is because he knows that these sanctions, which are painful for us, are catastrophic in the medium and long term for Russia.”
Source: BFM TV
