French President Emmanuel Macron believes that Ukraine’s NATO entry would be viewed by Russia as a direct confrontation, arguing that this will not be the “most likely scenario” in the near future.
“Ukraine’s entry into NATO [Organização do Tratado do Atlântico Norte] it would be perceived by Russia as a confrontation. It is not this Russia that we “want to deal with,” he said, in an interview with several newspapers, including the French Le Monde, the American The Wall Street Journal and the Lebanese An Nahar.
For Emmanuel Macron, it is necessary to give, at the end of the conflict, “security guarantees” to both Ukraine and Russia, a position he reiterated in the interview, despite having already received much criticism from kyiv and Eastern Europe.
“In the end we will have to put everyone at the same table,” he considered, adding that he does not want it to be “only China and Turkey that negotiates the next day” after the end of hostilities.
The French president also defended the strategic autonomy of Europe, within NATO, but with less dependence on the United States.
“There is no European security architecture without strategic autonomy, in NATO and with NATO, but not dependent on NATO,” he stressed.
“An alliance is not something I depend on, it is something I choose (…) We must rethink our strategic autonomy,” he said.
After the war, there must be an agreement “that builds a new order of stability and security in that region of Europe”, but, according to Macron, the Atlantic Alliance must not be the only tool to achieve this result.
“We cannot think about the security of this region only through NATO,” he said, criticizing Iran’s sending of ‘drones’ (unmanned aircraft) to Russia.
“A kind of multilateralism of terrorism is being created,” he denounced.
Macron also argued that Ukraine should focus its military effort on retaking territory occupied by Russia since February 24, implying that the return of Crimea could be postponed.
Although the recovery of the Crimean peninsula, occupied and annexed by the Russians in 2014, is something almost sacred for the kyiv government, Macron considered that the priority must be to defend “today’s Ukraine”.
The French leader also insisted that the war must end at the negotiating table and not on the battlefield.
“I have always defended not thinking that this conflict can be ended only by military means,” he recalled, showing himself, yes, very skeptical about Moscow’s willingness to sit down and negotiate.
“What the Russians have been asking for from the beginning is surrender, not peace,” he said.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 14 million people -6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million to European countries-, according to the most recent data. of the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
Right now, 17.7 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
Source: TSF
