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Macron Urges Better Russia Relations 02/16 10:24
MUNICH (AP) -- Europe needs to strive for better relations with Russia in
the long term, French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday, adding that
while he isn't proposing lifting sanctions they have changed nothing about
Russia's behavior.
Macron told the Munich Security Conference that a "credible" approach to
dealing with Russia would be to take the line that "we are demanding, we are
giving no ground in our principles on frozen conflicts, but will re-engage in a
strategic dialogue -- which will take time."
Relations between European Union countries and Moscow have been strained
since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and fighting broke out between
Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. That festering military
conflict has left over 14,000 dead since then. The U.S. and the European Union
slapped sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
French companies who are engaged in trade with Russia have pressured Macron
to help repair the EU's relations with Moscow and to ease economic sanctions.
During a visit to Poland this month, Macron said it was a "a major error to
distance ourselves from a part of Europe that we don't feel comfortable about."
On Saturday, he said the result of recent years is "a totally inefficient
system." That includes "sanctions that have changed absolutely nothing in
Russia -- I am not proposing at all to lift them, I am just stating this," he
added.
In advocating more dialogue with Russia, Macron pointed to the revival late
last year of the four-way summits between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine
aimed at resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
He said "we need in the long term to reengage with Russia but also emphasize
its responsibility in its role" as a permanent member of the U.N. Security
Council. "It cannot constantly be a member that blocks advances by this
council."
He said that he expects Russia will continue playing a destabilizing role in
matters such as other countries' election campaigns, either directly or
indirectly. "I don't believe in miracles -- I believe in politics, in the fact
that human will can change things when we give ourselves the means," he said.
However, Macron argued that Russia's military buildup is financially
unsustainable. He also says an alliance with China would not be "durable," in
part because "Chinese hegemony is not compatible with the Russian sense of
pride." That, he added, points to the need for a "European partnership."
(KR)
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