The French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, assured this Saturday (03.12.2022) that the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has no intention of “stopping the war” and warned that they plan to apply to the Russian regime deep sanctions, at the level of those imposed on Iran.
“The president and the chancellor have put him against the wall for not respecting his commitments,” said Elysee sources, after a conversation they both had with Putin by phone. The call, which started around 12:00 and ended around 2:00 p.m., the French presidency said, adding that Macron had previously spoken with Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky. He had asked Macron for help in freeing the mayor of Melitopol, near the besieged city of Mariupol, allegedly imprisoned by Russian soldiers.
“We will apply new sanctions, the most severe, at the level of those of North Korea, Syria and Iran, but we keep some in reserve, of a systemic type,” stressed the French presidential sources, who assumed that these sanctions will also impact the European economies. Its scope will be outlined over the weekend.
Change of “focus” in Moscow?
According to the Elysee, Putin “has no intention of stopping the war” and remains “determined” to achieve his goals. Likewise, he noted a change of tone in the Russian leader’s speech, since he no longer speaks of “denazification” of Ukraine or deposing President Zelensky. This coincides in highlighting a change in Russia’s “approach” in its negotiations with Ukraine.
Zelenski also estimated in a press conference the casualties in his ranks at “around 1,300 soldiers” fallen, the first balance of this type. He also said that the Russian Army had lost “about 12,000 men”, in a “ratio of one to ten, which, however, does not make me happy”.
Mutual accusations of war crimes
The situation in besieged cities such as Mariupol are “humanly unsustainable, Putin has to end the siege,” the Elysée sources explained. In this sense, Paris and Berlin called the Kremlin’s version, which accused the Ukrainian “nationalist” forces of violating international humanitarian law, a “lie”.
According to the Kremlin, during the call Putin mentioned “extrajudicial killings of opponents”, “hostage taking by civilians” and their “use as human shields”, as well as the “deployment of ‘heavy weapons’ in residential areas, near hospitals , schools and nurseries’.
Regarding whether there have been war crimes on the Russian side, the French presidency clarified that this falls to the International Criminal Court, although it advanced that “besieging cities with civilians or attacking basic infrastructures” as Russia has done fits into this class of crimes.
lgc (afp / efe)