French Secretary of State Clarifies Macron’s Remark That Russia 'Must Not Be Humiliated'

PARIS (Sputnik) - A recent comment made by French President Emmanuel Macron, who claimed that Russia "must not be humiliated," was intended to mean that the Russian society will have to be invited to dialogue once the conflict in Ukraine ends, Clement Beaune, French Minister of State for European Affairs, said on Tuesday.

On June 3, Macron said that Russia "must not be humiliated" as the hostilities are sure to end one day, paving the way toward a diplomatic resolution. The comment sparked a wave of criticism from Western and Ukrainian politicians alike.

"The president of the Republic did not say that [we] must not humiliate Vladimir Putin ... What the president meant is that [we] have to think about the future, about what will have to be built later [after securing a cease-fire in Ukraine] together with the Russian society, to find a way of coexistence, reconciliation," Beaune told France Inter radio channel.

Macron took an active part in talks on the situation around Ukraine and visited both Moscow and Kiev shortly before the start of the Russian military operation. The French leader has held multiple phone talks with his counterparts from both Russia and Ukraine as the crisis unfolded, spending as much as 100 hours in phone conversations with Putin since December 2021.