PARIS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd February, 2020) Having a straightforward political dialogue with Russia is a crucial element for ensuring European security, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday during his state visit to Poland.
Macron added that it would also enable progress in resolving the Ukrainian crisis and forge a new arms control framework.
Commenting on the accusations of France becoming "pro-Russian," the French president said that his country was neither pro-Russian, nor anti-Russian, yet believed in the necessity of improving relations with the European Union's largest neighbor.
"France did not become pro-Russian, as I sometimes hear. France is neither pro-Russian, not anti-Russian. It is pro-European. And it turns out that when you look at the map... you can see clearly that Russia is in Europe, even though it is not in the European Union, and that it's our neighbor. And we have no interest in being in a situation in which we do not face our relations with Russia and let the conflicts and misunderstandings accumulate," Macron told reporters in Warsaw.
The French leader emphasized that it was not in the interests of European countries to accumulate frozen conflicts.
"The interests of stability and the security of Europe and its European partners are of absolute priority for France and the only line of conduct. I am not at all naive, but I know that for the sake of Europe's security, as much for France as for Poland, we have to have a demanding political dialogue with Russia. This dialogue, even if it's difficult, is an indispensable condition of progress in Ukraine," Macron said.
Relations between Russia and the West deteriorated in the wake of the conflict in eastern Ukraine and the successful referendum on Crimea's reunification with Russia in 2014. The European Union, among other Western entities and countries, has accused the Kremlin of interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs and introduced sanctions against Russia. Moscow, which has denied the meddling claims, retaliated by switching over to an import phase-out and imposing counter-sanctions.
