“I would not use that word”, those were the declarations of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, after the American president, Joe Biden, affirmed in front of the press that Vladimir Putin is a butcher.
The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, distanced himself this Sunday from the statements of his American counterpart, Joe Biden, who he described the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, as a “butcher”, and maintained that “everything” must be done to avoid an escalation in this conflict.
The US president, after being asked by the press about his opinion of Putin after having seen the suffering of the refugees, Biden responded: “He’s a butcher.”
“I would not use those words”indicated the French head of state on the France 3 network.
The also candidate for re-election in April maintained that “everything must be done to make the situation slide”: “I keep talking to President Putin because what do we want to do collectively? We want to stop the war that Russia has launched, without waging war and without escalation.”
Macron underlined the importance of not fall into that escalation, “neither in action nor in word”, and advocated diplomatic means to achieve a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
“Geographically those who are in front of Russia are the Europeans. The United States is an ally in the framework of NATO with whom we share many values, but those of us who live together with Russia are the Europeans”, he recalled.
The French president, who since the beginning of the war on February 24 He has maintained regular telephone contact both with Putin and with the Ukrainian leader, Volodímir Zelenski, he specified that he will speak again tomorrow or Tuesday with the Russian president to organize “in the best conditions” an evacuation operation from besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine.
The US president made the remarks after visiting the PGE Narodowy soccer stadium, converted into a refugee center to care for some of the more than 2.17 million who have fled from Ukraine to Poland since the war began.
During his visit, Biden spoke with several Ukrainian refugees, hugged a woman and picked up a girl.
Later, he explained to the press that some children asked him to pray for their parents, grandparents or siblings who are in Ukraine fighting Russian forces.