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French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Raphaël Glucksmann has sharply criticized President Emmanuel Macron’s recent phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, BFMTV reports.
Glucksmann condemned the conversation on July 1, the first official contact between Macron and Putin since 2022, as a diplomatic misstep that undermines Ukraine’s struggle and Europe’s collective security.
“The only thing we should discuss with him [Putin] is the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine in the name of European security,” Glucksmann said. “As long as Vladimir Putin poses a threat to that security, we should not be talking to him about anything else.”
The MEP also criticized the official readout of the conversation from the Élysée Palace. He noted that the war in Ukraine was addressed in just a few lines, while the majority of the communiqué focused on potential cooperation with Russia on Iran.
“The rest was about ‘agreeing to work together on Iran’ and ‘cooperating on Iran’. This sends a signal that someone – a tyrant waging war in Ukraine, and thus in Europe, targeting not only Ukrainians but also Europeans – can be re-integrated into the international game,” he added.
Glucksmann drew parallels with former U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, which, despite condemning Russia’s occupation of Georgian territory in 2008, continued engaging with Moscow on other matters. He warned that Europe cannot afford to repeat such mistakes now.
Glucksmann also pointed out that shortly after the Macron-Putin call, Russia launched one of its most intense missile strikes on Kyiv since the full-scale invasion began, further underscoring the Kremlin’s disregard for diplomacy.
In his view, the only effective response is to increase pressure on Moscow and step up support for Ukraine.
“We must now freeze Russian state assets in our banks, amounting to €210 billion. The long-prepared sanctions package must finally be adopted. And we must ramp up our support for Ukraine,” he emphasized,” he said.
