Vladimir Putin told Emmanuel Macron he would rather play ice hockey than meet Joe Biden in a final emergency call to prevent the February invasion of Ukraine.
The lighthearted remark came on Feb. 20 at the end of a phone call in which the French leader made a fruitless attempt to stop Russia from going to war.
The talk ended with Macron’s proposal to hold Putin at a summit with Biden. Putin made no objection, but also seemed uninterested in fixing a date, insisting that the meeting be fully prepared.
“Honestly, I wanted to play ice hockey. Here I am talking to you from the gym before I start the physical exertion. But first I’m going to talk to my advisers.’
In a hugely unusual glimpse of a confidential telephone conversation between heads of state, Macron and his team were filmed at the Elysee taking the call and the footage will now be broadcast as the centerpiece of a documentary ‘A President, Europe and the War’ on the French President’s handling of the war in Ukraine will be broadcast on France 2 TV on Thursday.
Vladimir Putin told Emmanuel Macron he’d rather play ice hockey than meet Joe Biden
The light-hearted remark came on Feb. 20 at the end of the conversation in which the French leader tried to avert the war in Ukraine in a veiny way
“I’d like you to give me your reading of the situation first and maybe tell me very directly, as is our custom, what your intentions are,” Macron bluntly asked Putin at the start of the conversation.
‘What can I say? You see for yourself what is happening,” Putin replied, accusing Ukraine of breaking the Minsk accords that reduced the scope of a conflict that erupted in 2014.
He criticized pro-Western Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and falsely accused Kiev of seeking a nuclear weapon.
“In fact, our dear colleague, Mr Zelensky, is doing nothing” to implement the Minsk accords, Putin claimed. “He’s lying to you,” he added, accusing Macron of wanting to assess Minsk as well.
‘I don’t know if your solicitor has learned law! As for me, I just look at the lyrics and I try to apply them,” Macron sniffed.
Putin then argued that the proposals of separatists in eastern Ukraine should be taken into account. “But we don’t care about the separatists’ proposals,” Macron snapped.
But despite the tension, Macron also tried to play the role of a mediator, saying he will urge Zelensky to “calm everyone down,” not just in the Ukrainian armed forces but on social media.
“Do not give in to provocations of any kind in the coming hours and days,” he told Putin.
Macron has been praised by admirers for keeping open a channel to Putin, with whom he sought to build a relationship to the point of inviting the Kremlin chief to his summer residence in 2019
As they have always done in their conversations, both men use the informal form of “you” to address each other.
Macron has been praised by admirers for keeping open a channel to Putin, with whom he has sought to develop a relationship to the point of inviting the Kremlin chief to his summer residence in 2019.
But opponents fear that Russia has exploited the French leader’s eagerness for dialogue and that Kiev is alarmed by his insistence that Russia should not be humiliated as the war ends.
The Elysee then informed reporters that an agreement in principle had been reached for a summit between Biden and Putin, but this never took place.
The last words were relatively cordial. “Thank you anyway, Vladimir. We keep in touch in real time. Call me if there is anything,” Macron said. “Thank you, Mr President,” Putin said, suddenly slipping away in French.
Macron would speak with Putin again the day later, on February 21. But on February 24, Russia launched the invasion, sparking a war that continues to rage even as Moscow failed in its apparent initial goal of taking Kiev.
Macron has always insisted that diplomacy was the right thing to do, but has also been criticized for finally making a trip to Kiev last week to support Zelensky and not before.
The president undertook further talks with Putin even after the invasion began, including on February 24 itself, but exchanges have now dried up.
He has always maintained that diplomacy was the right thing to do, but has also been criticized for finally making a trip to Kiev last week and not before to support Zelensky.
“We didn’t convince him and he invaded Ukraine,” Macron told the filmmakers. “I thought that through trust and intellectual discussion we could find a way with Putin,” he added.