Emmanuel Macron wants Russia’s “defeat” without “crushing” it

On the plane back from the Munich Security Conference, the President of the Republic confided in the Figaroau Sunday newspaper and at France Inter.

Emmanuel Macron told the Figaroau Sunday newspaper and France Inter on the plane back from the Munich Security Conference. He stated that he desired Moscow’s defeat against Ukraine while warning those who want to “first crush Russia,” which will not be “Never” the “position of France.

I want Russia to be defeated in Ukraine, and I want Ukraine to be able to defend itself, but I am convinced that it will not end militarily, ” said the French President. “I do not believe, as some do, that Russia should be completely defeated and attacked on its own soil. Above all, these observers want to crush Russia. This has never been and will never be France’s position,” he added.
Encourage bargaining

These observers appear to him to be those who are more die-hard, particularly in Eastern Europe, and who strongly criticised him in May 2022 remarks in which he stated that it was not necessary to “humiliate” Russia. In this interview, conducted Friday evening on the plane returning from Germany, where he attended the annual Munich security conference, the President reaffirms his desire to promote a negotiated outcome.

In his speech in the Bavarian city, he had already felt that Russia should “failin’ Ukraine, but some observers had criticised him for not having gone so far as to mention a necessary “defeat from Moscow. He also stated that “intensifying” support for Kyiv was required to move towards “credible negotiations».

Putin, the best solution in Russia’s current system?

What is required today is for Ukraine to lead a military offensive that disrupts the Russian front in order to trigger a return to negotiations,” he told JDD and France Inter. According to him, “neither side can fully prevail», «neither Ukraine nor Russia, because the effects of mobilisation are not as great as expected and it itself has capacity limits».

Emmanuel Macron also believes that “all options other than Vladimir Putin within the current system” look worse than the Russian President, referring to hardliners such as Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev and paramilitary group leader Wagner Yevgeny Prigojine.

Do we truly believe that, after years of hardening and conflict, a democratic solution will emerge from the Russian civil society present on the ground? “I want it, but I’m not sure I believe it,” he warned.