Emmanuel Macron: Dialogue with Vladimir Putin must be prepared “between Europeans”

French President Emmanuel Macron assessed on Thursday that there is no urgency in starting a dialogue with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, stressing the importance of prior cooperation between Europeans, AFP reports, according to Agerpres.

“It's not a matter of days, things are getting ready,” Macron said at the end of an informal European summit in Belgium. “I think that now, above all, we need to work on ourselves, on what we want to ask for,” he added.

The French president had announced in December that he wanted to resume direct contacts with his Russian counterpart, and in early February he sent his diplomatic adviser to Moscow to prepare them.

This discussion with Vladimir Putin must now be prepared “among the Europeans” so that, “at the right time, we can be ready”, was Macron's opinion.

“What do we want? We want security guarantees for Ukraine, but we also want things for the Europeans,” added the French president.

He listed, among the priorities, “prosperity issues, about the future of our Europe, about the security architecture.”

Emmanuel Macron had already mentioned, in an interview broadcast on Tuesday by several publications, the resumption of the dialogue with the Russian president, advocating that it be “well organized” with the Europeans, but without “too many interlocutors”

“Communication channels are necessary,” said Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker about French President Emmanuel Macron's plan not to delegate negotiations to the US and to build a new European security architecture by resuming direct dialogue with Vladimir Putin.

“If Putin is interested in negotiations, he will negotiate with whoever has the mandate,” said Christian Stocker, thus becoming the European voice that publicly validates Emmanuel Macron's strategy.