Russian authorities have criticized the leak of a phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin that showed the two leaders having a heated exchange days before the Ukraine invasion.
The conversation happened just four days before Moscow conducted its war on Ukraine and showed the Russian strongman claiming that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was lying to Macron.
Heated Phone Call
Details of the confidential exchange were revealed in a bombshell new documentary about the French president's handling of the ongoing conflict in Europe, titled "A President, Europe, and War," which premiered last week on a French television show.
The documentary showed that as Russia was in the process of amassing its forces in preparation for the full-scale invasion in late February Macron called his Russian counterpart to give his advice on the escalating situation and discuss "useful actions" to defuse the tension.
However, Putin quickly turned the conversation to "our dear colleague Mr. Zelensky" and accused the Ukrainian president of "lying" to the French president about his intention to implement the Minsk Accords, which aimed to end the war in the Donbas region, as per the New York Post.
Then, the Russian president took issue with Zelensky's apparent refusal to negotiate with pro-Kremlin Ukrainian separatists, which infuriated Macron and prompted him to exclaim in audible frustration, "I don't know where your lawyer learned law!"
Macron added by telling Putin that in a sovereign country the texts of laws are proposed by separatist groups and not by the democratically-elected authorities. However, the Russian president fired back, arguing that Zelensky's government was not democratically elected.
According to France24, the situation comes as Macron faces criticism over his calls to avoid humiliating Russia in Ukraine. On Friday, the French president reiterated his belief that Putin must be given an exit from what he called his "historic and fundamental mistake" of waging war against Ukraine.
France and Ukraine
The statement immediately garnered new tensions with Kyiv where Zelensky is known to be skeptical about the French president's insistence on trying to talk Putin into ending the invasion. Macron has made dozens of calls to Putin since the beginning of the year despite publicly supporting Ukraine.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, also criticized the publication of the call between Macron and Putin. The official made his comments on Wednesday, saying, "diplomatic etiquette does not provide for unilateral leaks of [such] recordings."
Furthermore, Lavrov said that Russia had nothing to be ashamed of despite the revelations of the call between the two leaders. "We, in principle, lead negotiations in such a way that we never have anything to be ashamed of. We always say what we think and are ready to answer for these words and explain our position," said the foreign minister.
The documentary also showed scenes that were rarely seen in public, including Macron holding a meeting in his bunker under the Elysee palace and working with his team in the presidential plane. Furthermore, it highlights European leaders' coordination to support Ukraine and impose unprecedented sanctions on Russia, Aljazeera reported.
Related Article:
