'We told each other everything': Highlights from Macron's first meeting with Putin

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 29 May 2017 18:29 UTC

Just a few days after the young French president made headlines for his white-knuckled, "not innocent" handshake with Donald Trump, Russian president Vladimir Putin was prepared for his first meeting with Emanuel Macron, with the result captured on the following clip.

What followed was talks in private between the two leaders in Versailles that lasted for almost three hours during which the two leaders discussed a number of topics ranging from bilateral relations to the situations in Syria, Ukraine, Libya and the Korean Peninsula, and culminated with a press conference in which Macron said the "Franco-Russian friendship" was at heart of his meeting with Putin and called for improved ties with Russia but warned he would hold tough positions on sanctions and the civil war in Syria.

"I want us to win the fight against terrorists in Syria and build together lasting political stability. We have laid the ground for that work together today." Macron said. "I believe we've had an extremely frank and direct exchange. We have told each other everything."

Macron also admitted he has "some disagreements" with his Russian counterpart, but said that the two leaders discussed them openly. The French president concede that serious international problems cannot be resolved without Moscow, as he stressed the importance of the role Russia plays in the modern world.

"No major problem in the world can be solved without Russia," he said during the press conference, and added that France is interested in intensifying cooperation with Russia, particularly in resolving the Syrian crisis. The French leader went on to say that this issue demands "an inclusive political solution."

Macron said that fighting terrorism and ISIS remains an "absolute priority" for France and serves as one of the reasons for the reinforcement of cooperation with Russia. He also said that the use of chemical weapons is a "red line" that should not be crossed, warning that the use of such weapons in Syria would trigger a "reprisal" from France. Previously, France demanded the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a Kremlin ally, and accused his regime of staging a chemical attack in April that provoked a U.S. military response.

Comment: Since the use of chemical weapons in Syria is by the terrorists, not Assad, then France's "red line" is against ISIS? Probably not.

An unfazed Putin "welcomed the overtures" according to Bloomberg, while avoiding any public conflict with his French host, even over Macron's accusation that Russian media spread lies and propaganda during the campaign, which came in response to a Russian reporter's question.

"They didn't act like the media, like journalists. They behaved like deceitful propaganda," Macron told RT France head Xenia Fedorova during the joint press conference. "I have always had an exemplary relationship with foreign journalists, but they have to be real journalists," explained Macron, who defeated Marine Le Pen in the second round of the election, earlier this month. "All foreign journalists, including Russian journalists, had access to my campaign."

Macron described RT and Sputnik as "organs of influence and propaganda" adding that both "produced infamous counter-truths about him."

Comment: Macron accuses RT and Sputnik of 'behaving like deceitful propaganda' right in front of Putin

Putin again denied any efforts to meddle in the vote (shortly after the summit, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow "does not agree" with Macron's statements about the two news organizations), and agreed that while the two leaders have some differences, he said that they assess many issues in a similar way, and that French-Russian relations could be "qualitatively" improved.

"We sought ... common ground [in dealing] with key issues of the international agenda. And I believe that we see it. We are able to ... at least try to start resolving the key modern problems together," Putin said.

Putin said he outlined Russia's position on Syria to Macron and said that terrorism cannot be defeated by destroying a host nation's statehood. "It is impossible to fight a terrorist threat by dismantling the statehood of those countries that already suffer from some internal problems and conflicts," he said at the joint press conference.

Putin said that Russia and France are determined to cooperate in resolving the crises in Syria, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, as well as to fight terrorism together. The Russian leader added that he and Macron had particularly agreed to establish a working group on fighting terrorism.

As Bloomberg adds, Macron met Putin "amid the gold and marble of Versailles and showed him around an exhibition commemorating Russian czar Peter the Great, who visited France in 1717."

The invitation was intended to establish ties after months of strained relations during the French campaign. Putin openly supported two of Macron's rivals, Republican Francois Fillon and then Marine Le Pen, and Macron's team accused the Russian government of involvement in a series of cyber attacks on their systems.

"What's important is that during our talks today we sensed that we look at many things in the same way, although there are some differences," Putin said. "What we have in common gives us the reason to believe that we can not only intensify but significantly improve our cooperation."

A full replay is available below:

Comment: Commentary from Alexander Mercouris of The Duran:

Apparently there were agreements on setting up some sort of anti terrorist liaison centre and something which will be called the Russian-French Trianon Dialogue civil forum. These are the sort of things leaders agree when they have nothing substantive to talk about, and nothing else to show.

Macron's threats are empty. The question of whether sanctions against Russia are ever increased will be made in Washington and Berlin, not in Paris, and if the US or the Germans ever decide to lift the sanctions France will have no option but to agree regardless of what happens in Ukraine. The events of August 2013, when President Obama called of a military strike on Syria following the Ghouta chemical attack, leaving France's then President Hollande high and dry, shows that France is in no position to set 'red lines' or make threats independently of the US in Syria.

Whether the French public is impressed by all this grandiose talk - as if the France of today were the France of Louis XIV or Napoleon, not the diminished power it actually is - is hard to say. Macron anyway undermined whatever impression of French grandeur he wanted to make by saying that he would "report" about the meeting to Angela Merkel, showing where the real power in Europe lies.

Certainly Putin won't have been impressed. On the contrary, if Macron spoke to him like this in private - and all the indications are that he did - Putin will have decided that there is little to be gained from seeking a dialogue with the new French President, who it turns out is every bit as hostile to Russia as he appears to be.

This begs the question of why Macron decided to meet with Putin at all. The ostensible purpose of the meeting was to commemorate Peter the Great's visit to France in 1717. However there was no indication until a few weeks ago that Putin was planning to attend this commemoration, so presumably the suggestion for the visit, and the proposal to convert it into a summit, came from Macron. The Kremlin's brief statement confirming Putin's meeting with Macron notably confirms that the meeting happened at the invitation of Macron.

Possibly Macron overestimates his ability to impress Putin. As a young man who has come very far and very fast he might be over-confident about his diplomatic abilities, and might think that by 'setting Putin straight' in a one-to-one meeting he might achieve some sort of breakthrough in relations between France and Russia. If so then before long he will discover otherwise, and if he is wise he will come to realise that it is not in his own or in France's interests for him to continue to overplay his hand in this way.

As for Putin, the meeting will have enabled him to get a measure of the new French President. It is unlikely he was especially impressed by what he saw and heard.