Macron brings up guarantees for Moscow again

French President Emmanuel Macron has once again caused controversy with comments on Russia's war against Ukraine. In an interview with the French TV station TF1 on Saturday, he said, among other things, that Russia still fears that Nato could come right up to its doors, and that the West should consider how to address Moscow's need for security guarantees. Commentators are unenthusiastic.

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Echo24 (CZ) /

Betrayal of all of Eastern Europe

Echo24 is horrified by Macron's proposals:

“The security guarantees envisioned by the Kremlin mean a binding promise that Ukraine will never become part of Western structures, that Russia will be able to interfere in Ukraine's internal politics, and most likely recognition of the annexation of the currently occupied territories. When Macron talks of guarantees for Russia, he is talking of Ukraine's defeat. ... His words testify to a willingness to hand over Eastern Europe to Russia. Can we be sure that he would not also be willing to recognise Russian influence in the other countries of the former Soviet bloc that were lucky enough to join the EU and Nato?”

Die Welt (DE) /

Only the next step but one

Macron's idea is hasty, writes the daily Die Welt:

“Security conditions can only be the next step but one in the negotiations. The next step must be to formulate conditions for the holding of such negotiations - and then to monitor compliance with these conditions. Anything else ends in a compromise solution that works to the advantage of the aggressor.”

Večernji list (HR) /

Security for Putin - and Ukraine

Večernji list finds the proposal pragmatic but has certain reservations:

“The French president is giving Putin a chance that the West did not give him or withheld from him: that Nato does not 'come right up to his doors'. ... The question is not what Russia gets out of this, but what Ukraine. For the war to end, Russia would have to give security guarantees to Ukraine that its territories will be returned and that peaceful solutions will be sought to the issues between the two states. Before he went to war, it would have been enough for Putin if Nato didn't get too close and he had found an arrangement for the Ukrainian Russians. Now that he is deeply involved in the war, the question is whether he can return empty-handed.”