The French are as worried as anybody about the broader precedent set, including for China, if Russia gets to keep land it has grabbed so bloodily. Since his trip to Kyiv Mr Macron has hardened his tone
in Saint-Tropez. Emmanuel Macron, though, is not the sort to lie idly on the beach, even on holiday. On day one this week at his official residence on the Mediterranean the French president was already on the phone to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. It was in August three years ago that Mr Macron hosted Vladimir Putin on the Med. Clutching a bouquet of flowers, the Russian leader bounded up the stone steps to greet him.
Charges in the Francophobic British press that Mr Macron is a Munich-style appeaser are jingoistic and overblown. But he also draws criticism from more reasonable voices, from Estonia to Ukraine itself, which cannot so easily be dismissed. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, was particularly incensed by Mr Macron’s call for Russia not to be humiliated.
Less flatteringly, the film exposes the undue faith Mr Macron put in reason to deal with the ruthless Russian autocrat. During a phone call on February 20th the French president is by turns cordial, stern and acerbic. “I don’t know where your legal adviser studied law,” snaps Mr Macron. When Mr Putin cuts the call short, saying he is at the gym, Mr Macron thinks the Russian has agreed to meet President Joe Biden. Four days later Mr Putin sent in the tanks.
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