Macron: Calling Putin is thankless work, but must be done

French President Emmanuel Macron calls the telephone conversations he had with his counterpart Vladimir Putin in recent weeks “thankless work”. The dialogues are often cynical and therefore unpleasant, Macron says, but the French president says it is “his duty” to conduct them.

Macron made the statements on Thursday in an interview about the presidential elections with the French newspaper Le Parisien. The French president is one of the few Western heads of government who has spoken regularly with Putin since the invasion of Ukraine. He says he does not expect an “opening” to the conflict before mid-May, but hopes his talks have been “helpful in preparing for peace”.

On the failed evacuation attempt France proposed late last month for civilians from the besieged southern Ukrainian port of Mariupol, Macron says it was refused by Russia. Although this, according to the French president, “sidelined diplomacy”, the Russian president’s explicit refusal was “at least clear”.