French President Emmanuel Macron recently provided a rare insight into the behavior of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he said has “changed” in the past two years since the two leaders met in person earlier, CNN reported. Paris, following a televised patriotic speech by the Russian President, what Macron observed during the leaders’ meeting in Moscow on February 7.
Macron told reporters on the plane after returning from the flight that he found Putin “more solid and more isolated” when they met face to face earlier this month in Moscow, the source said, adding that the assessment matches the impression given by Putin in his incoherent speech that he announced. About the deployment of “peacekeeping” forces in eastern Ukraine.
President Macron explained to the journalists present that Putin, whom he met in the Kremlin, is no longer the same he saw in December 2019 – their last meeting.
He continued: “Macron found in the Kremlin a man who was at the same time more solid and aloof, basically, who had entered into a kind of drift that was both ideological and rational, which is demonstrated in a certain way today (in the speech).”
Macron has emerged as Europe’s main mediator in diplomatic efforts to avert war in Ukraine in recent weeks. The two spent more than five hours in face-to-face talks during their meeting in Moscow this month.
Macron said at the time that he and Putin had been able to find “meeting points” on the crisis and that it was “up to us to agree, jointly, on concrete and specific measures to stabilize the situation and de-escalate tensions.”