{"id":245053,"date":"2020-02-15T08:53:04","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T13:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=245053"},"modified":"2020-02-15T08:53:04","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T13:53:04","slug":"frances-macron-urges-better-long-term-relations-with-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/02\/15\/frances-macron-urges-better-long-term-relations-with-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"France’s Macron urges better long term relations with Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Macron told the Munich Security Conference that a \u201ccredible\u201d approach to dealing with Russia would be to take the line that \u201cwe are demanding, we are giving no ground in our principles on frozen conflicts, but will re-engage in a strategic dialogue — which will take time.\u201d (File Photo<\/a>: Emmanuel Macron\/Facebook<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MUNICH \u2014 Europe needs to strive for better relations with Russia in the long term, French President Emmanuel Macron said Saturday, adding that while he isn’t proposing lifting sanctions they have changed nothing about Russia’s behavoir.<\/p>\n

Macron told the Munich Security Conference that a \u201ccredible\u201d approach to dealing with Russia would be to take the line that \u201cwe are demanding, we are giving no ground in our principles on frozen conflicts, but will re-engage in a strategic dialogue — which will take time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relations between European Union countries and Moscow have been strained since Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and fighting broke out between Kyiv and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. That festering military conflict has left over 14,000 dead since then. The U.S. and the European Union slapped sanctions on Russia for its actions in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

French companies who are engaged in trade with Russia have pressured Macron to help repair the EU’s relations with Moscow and to ease economic sanctions.<\/p>\n

During a visit to Poland this month, Macron said it was a \u201ca major error to distance ourselves from a part of Europe that we don’t feel comfortable about.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, he said the result of recent years is \u201ca totally inefficient system.\u201d That includes \u201csanctions that have changed absolutely nothing in Russia — I am not proposing at all to lift them, I am just stating this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

In advocating more dialogue with Russia, Macron pointed to the revival late last year of the four-way summits between France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine aimed at resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine.<\/p>\n

He said \u201cwe need in the long term to reengage with Russia but also emphasize its responsibility in its role\u201d as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. \u201cIt cannot constantly be a member that blocks advances by this council.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that he expects Russia will continue playing a destabilizing role in matters such as other countries’ election campaigns, either directly or indirectly. \u201cI don’t believe in miracles — I believe in politics, in the fact that human will can change things when we give ourselves the means,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

However, Macron argued that Russia’s military buildup is financially unsustainable. He also says an alliance with China would not be \u201cdurable,\u201d in part because \u201cChinese hegemony is not compatible with the Russian sense of pride.\u201d That, he added, points to the need for a \u201cEuropean partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MUNICH \u2014 Europe needs to strive for better relations with Russia in the long term, French President Emmanuel Macron said …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":141818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-geir-moulson","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245053"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245054,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245053\/revisions\/245054"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}