France's Macron says will not visit Russia without 'preconditions' & 'gestures' from Putin

As European leaders visited Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said that he will not go to Russia without “preconditions”, including “gestures” from Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. In an exclusive interview with French TV channel TF1 from the Ukrainian capital, Macron said, “I will not just go like this”. The French President, however, said that he would continue engaging with his Russian counterpart on humanitarian issues such as food security. 

“And so I do not exclude anything, but I will always do it in transparency with the Ukrainian president,” Macron said.

The French President, who was criticised recently for holding talks with Putin and urging the world to not 'humiliate' Russia amid the war, said that he believes his relationship with his Ukrainian counterpart has remained unchanged due to his dialogue with Putin. Macron said, “I don’t think we can say that our relationship got cold. France has maintained the same position. I was transparent about my dialogue with Putin and sometimes did it at the request of President Zelenskyy”. 

In the same interview, Macron said that the European Union (EU) is trying to come up with a plan to export Ukrainian grain and cereals through Romania. He added that Odesa is a few tens of kilometres from Romania". The French President said that grain would be exported from Romania through the Danube River and into the railway system.

Macron: France, Germany, Italy, Romania back Ukraine’s EU membership

During an official visit with leaders of four European countries, Macron told Zelenskyy that France, Italy, Germany and Romania back Ukraine’s candidacy for European Union (EU). “All four of us [France, Germany, Italy and Romania] support the status of immediate candidacy for membership. This status will be accompanied by a roadmap and will also imply that the situation of the Western Balkans and of the neighbourhood, particularly of Moldova, is taken into account,” Macron told the Ukrainian President. 

"Europe is by your side, it will remain so as long as necessary, until the victory is achieved, a victory which will see the return of peace in a free and independent Ukraine,” Macron added.

Macron went on to say that the food crisis was a “direct consequence of the war waged by Russia,” and he called on Russia “to accept that the United Nations organise the export of cereals, which requires the lifting of the Russian blockade and provide all security guarantees for Ukraine to allow the exit of these cereals on Ukrainian ports.”

Image: AP