Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine, in 2017 at the Palace of Versailles. – STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
“We must define clear red lines with Russia,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, saying he was ready for sanctions in the event of “unacceptable behavior” in an excerpt from an interview with the American channel CBS broadcast on Saturday.
“I think that after unacceptable behavior, indeed, we must sanction”, replied President Macron, questioned about the possibility of measures against Moscow in the event of an invasion, at a time when the Russian troops are more and more numerous at the Ukrainian border.
While affirming that the sanctions alone “are not sufficient” and that a “constructive dialogue” is preferable, Emmanuel Macron assured that they constitute “the only way to be credible”.
“We need a frank and open dialogue with Russia,” he added.
A summit to come
Russia is accused of having deployed tens of thousands of soldiers near its border with Ukraine and in Crimea, a peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, and the fighting, almost at a standstill since a truce concluded in the summer 2020, have recently resumed.
On Thursday, US President Joe Biden announced a series of severe financial sanctions against Russia, and the expulsion of ten Russian diplomats, while renewing his proposal for a summit with Vladimir Putin.
These sanctions are a response to cyber attacks and interference in the 2020 US presidential election. Eight people and entities linked to the “occupation” of Crimea were also sanctioned.
On Friday, Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave their support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called on Russia to withdraw its troops at the border in order to quickly work towards “de-escalation”.