Emmanuel Macron tells Europe not to rule out negotiations with Putin
Emmanuel Macron has suggested that the West cannot rule out negotiating with Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron believes that the West may have to negotiate with Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine's allies are pursuing for Putin to face justice in a war crimes trial but the French president has suggested that Europe cannot rule out talks with the Russian leader and other Kremlin figures if the conflict continues to rage.
In a speech at an EU leaders conference in Bratislava, Macron insisted that Russia had lost all legitimacy but did stress that Europe would have to assess the nature of future support for Kyiv if the impending Ukrainian counter-offensive did not meet its objectives.
Macron said: "The timing issue – and this is where I want to be very transparent and honest with you. The question is if in a few months to come, you have a window for negotiation with the existing Russian political power, the question will be an arbitrage between a trial and a negotiation, I will be very frank with you.
"And you will have to negotiate with the leaders you have, de facto, even if the day after you will have to judge them in front of them of the international justice. So this is a question of articulation. Because otherwise you can put yourselves just in an impossible situation where you say: ‘I want you to go to jail, but you are the only one I can negotiate with.'"
