PARIS, May 29, (APP/AFP) – France’s new President
Emmanuel Macron was to host Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday in the latest test of his diplomatic mettle after vowing firm stands on Ukraine and Syria.
“It is essential to talk to Russia because there are many international issues that will not be resolved without a tough exchange with the Russians,” Macron said at the G7 summit in Sicily which wound up on Saturday.
The 39-year-old centrist leader’s meeting with Putin, 64, caps a whirlwind of diplomacy including the G7 talks as well as last week’s NATO summit in Brussels.
He told a French weekly that he was not “bothered” by leaders who “think in terms of power ratios”, citing Putin as an example along with US President Donald Trump.
But Macron, who became France’s youngest president just three weeks ago, said he does not believe in “the diplomacy of public invective but in bilateral dialogue”.
As a candidate, Macron had tough words for Russia, accusing it of following a “hybrid strategy combining military intimidation and an information war”.