Revealing the "fiery" call between Putin and Macron right before the Ukraine conflict

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 Just before the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, French President Emmanuel Macron had a rather tense phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent hostilities.


According to AFP, during the six months, even before the Russia-Ukraine war broke out, French President Emmanuel Macron had at least 100 hours of phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin to reduce tensions between Moscow and Kiev. Their last phone conversation took place on February 20, just four days before President Putin ordered a " special military operation " in Ukraine.

"This Vladimir, first of all...", President Macron was about to express his opinion before being interrupted. "Mr Emmanuel, listen to this..." Putin said. The phone conversation was quite tense as the two leaders wanted to clarify their stance on Ukraine.

At the beginning of the call, Mr. Macron suggested: "First of all, I want to know how you see the situation, tell me frankly what your intentions are."

"What can I say? You see for yourself what is happening," the Kremlin owner replied when accusing Ukraine of breaking the Minsk accords on conflict resolution in Donbass, eastern Ukraine. Putin also accused the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. "In fact, our beloved counterpart Zelensky does not comply with the Minsk accords," the Russian leader said.

Immediately, Mr. Macron replied: "I don't know if your legal advisor has studied law, but for me, I am only interested in agreements and trying to comply with them."

Mr. Putin then argued that the demands of the separatists in eastern Ukraine should be taken into account. "We are not interested in the proposals of the separatists," Macron countered rather tensely.

Despite the "flaming" arguments, Mr. Macron still tried to play a mediator role. He said he would urge President Zelensky to "reassure everyone", not only the military but also the online community. "Don't do anything stressful in the coming hours and days," Macron told his Russian counterpart.

At the end of the phone call, Mr. Macron suggested holding a summit between President Putin and US President Joe Biden. Mr. Putin did not object, but also did not appear to be interested in fixing a specific plan, saying that such a meeting should be carefully prepared.

The Elysee Palace later informed the media that the parties had reached an agreement in principle to conduct the Biden-Putin summit, but in reality the meeting did not take place.

Just four days after the phone call, President Putin on February 24 announced the opening of a "special military operation" in Ukraine to protect the people in Donbass. Moscow said that Donbass separatist leaders had asked Russia for assistance after it became clear that the Ukrainian army was preparing an offensive to regain control of the east. Kiev has denied the allegation.

President Macron is one of a number of foreign leaders trying to play the role of mediator to defuse tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Mr. Macron said he never hid his conversations with President Putin and that the exchanges with the Kremlin owner were carried out at the request of Ukrainian President Zelensky.

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