SUMMARY

After his speech at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly, President Macron gave an interview on CNN. He declared that Russia was a “new imperial country” which launched “a colonial war”. He also stated that it was now “clear for everybody that the leader who decided to go to war, the leader who decided to escalate, is president Putin”. Asked about the reasons of this invasion by Russia, Emmanuel Macron said that it was a combination of three factors: post-1990 resentment about how Russia was treated by its Western counterparts, a search for regional hegemony, and Covid-19-related isolation of V. Putin. The President also stressed the relevance of his dialogue with the Kremlin, giving the example of the IAEA visit to Zaporizhzhia. He declared that it was up to Ukraine to decide whether Crimea should be included in discussions in the event of peace talks. The alleged irrelevance of the UN in this crisis was discussed. E. Macron reasserted France was in favor of a UNSC reform, to be more representative of “the African continent or some emerging countries”. The President said it’s essential to “preserve our values and the Charter”. He then considered the Russia-backed “West versus the rest” division a “big danger”. E. Macron said that we shouldn’t be “lecturing” countries which don’t condemn Russia’s invasion, but try to understand them. The “global order” is at stake, with three main issues requiring global cooperation: peace, climate change and food security. Finally, Emmanuel Macron declared being a “strong believer in European sovereignty”, top priority sectors being technologies like chips, energy, digital space and defense.