Vladimir Putin cries for reporters at the Alaska summit. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP / Profimedia
Vladimir Putin is “a predator, a cape at our gates” who “must continue to eat” for “their own survival”, warned Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, urging Europeans to “be naive” in front of Russia, which will remain “a long -term destabilizing force,” reports France Presse.
“Since 2007-2008 (Russian intervention in Georgia, no), President Putin rarely respected his commitments. He was constantly a destabilizing force. And he sought to review the borders to expand his power,” the French president said in an interview with the LCI post.
The leader of the Élysée Palace believes that “Russia has become a sustainable destabilizing force and a potential threat to many of us.”
“A country that invests 40% of its budget in such equipment, which has mobilized an army of over 1.3 million people, will not return to peace and an open democratic system,” the President of France warned.
“So, including for his own survival, he (Putin) has to continue to eat. This is. And therefore he is a predator, a caps at our gates. I do not say that tomorrow France will be attacked, but it is a threat to Europeans (…) We do not have to be naive,” the European leader insisted.
The interview was conducted at the end of the Washington meeting between Donald Trump and several European leaders, in which the organization of a meeting between Volodimir Zelenski and Vladimir Putin was announced.
However, in another interview with NBC News, Emmanuel Macron did not hide the fact that he does not share Donald Trump's optimism about the possibility of reaching a peace agreement.
“When I look at the situation and the facts, I do not see that the President Putin wants peace at this time, but maybe I'm too pessimistic,” he said.
