Four days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said he wanted to be “playing ice hockey” when Macron suggested a possible meeting with the US president to avert the looming war. The meeting did not take place and on February 24 began what the Kremlin called a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
The comment came at the end of a nine-minute informal conversation between the two leaders seen by The Telegraph and to be revealed in a France 2 documentary on Thursday.
To be honest, I wanted to play ice hockey. And here I am speaking from the sports hall before starting physical activity,” Putin said during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron.
However, the conversation began in other ways, with an attempt by Macron, which proved unsuccessful, to prevent Russia from moving forward with the war.
“Vladimir, one thing first”, the French leader begins at the beginning of the conversation before being quickly interrupted by his Russian counterpart: “Listen to Emmanuel, Putin interrupts him. Macron continues: “I would like you to give me your reading of the situation first and maybe, directly, as is our custom, to tell me what your intentions are“.
During the conversation, on February 20, Putin took the opportunity to criticize the Ukrainian president, who accused him of doing nothing to implement the Minsk agreements and of seeking nuclear weapons, continuing with the argument that the proposals of the separatists in the east of Ukraine must be heard.
Faced with Macron’s assertions that in a sovereign country the laws are made by “democratically elected authorities and not separatists”, Putin responds: “It is not a democratically elected government. They gained control through a bloody coup. People were burned alive. It was a bloodbath and Zelensky is one of the culprits“.
During the conversation, Macron acts as a mediator, offering to speak with Zelensky and appealing to Putin to meet with US President Joe Biden. The Russian leader, however, does not seem inclined and at the end of the conversation he reveals that he was about to go play ice hockey.
The Telegraph also had access to a subsequent conversation between Macron and the British prime minister. Boris Johnson will have expressed his doubts that dialogue was the solution to dealing with Putin.
“Every time we talk to Vladimir Putin I get the impression that he becomes more aggressive and that we seem a bit weak. He wants to get what he wants and he won’t stop until he gets it,” Johnson warned. Two days later, Putin invaded Ukraine.
Source: Observadora
