“Who wants Turkey to be the only power in the world that continues to talk to Russia?”, Launched the president in front of the French ambassadors gathered at the Elysée.
“We must not give in to any form of false morality which would power us down”, Mr. Macron continued, repeating that “the job of a diplomat is to talk to everyone and especially to people with whom we are not in contact with each other. ‘OK”.
“And so we will continue to do so”, “in coherence with our allies”, he added, recalling that “the division of Europe” was “one of Russia’s war aims”.
The French president is one of the few European leaders to have spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, a strategy that has been criticized.
The Élysée has always claimed to have acted with the agreement of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and contacts have become rare after the revelation of the war crimes attributed to Russia, in particular in Boutcha, in the suburbs of kyiv.
The last telephone contact between the French president and his Russian counterpart dates back to August 19, and concerned the situation at the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant and the organization of a mission by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has taken on the role of “facilitator” between Moscow and kyiv since the start of the war, and the agreement on the exit of grain ships from Black Sea ports has been reached in July in Istanbul.
