In an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung, French President Emmanuel Macron said he had invited several European colleagues to restart dialogue with Russia.
“Some found it too early to send their diplomatic advisors [to Russia] the way we did,” he said. “My idea is simple: Do we want to delegate discussions on the matter to someone else? Our geographical position is not going to change: No matter if we like Russia or not, it will still be there in the future. It’s our neighbor.” This is why he sees the need “to arrange the resumption of European discussions with the Russians, without being naïve or putting pressure on the Ukrainians, but pursuing the goal of being independent from third parties in this discussion.” Macron added that it would be reasonable to resume dialogue with Moscow as early as December (that is, 10 more months to go—ed.).
