Days after comparison to ‘negotiating with Hitler’, Macron’s dialogue with Putin is ‘splitting Nato’

Days after Poland accused France’s president of “negotiating with Hitler” by speaking to Vladimir Putin, France has now been accused of “splitting Nato” with its continued attempts to talk with Russia. 

Its president Emmanuelle Macron has been keeping an open dialogue with Moscow’s leader, along with Germany.

Putin has been accused of war crimes, a call renewed this week with harrowing images and footage emerging of a massacre in the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Irpin.

Last week, the Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki compared his open channel with Kremlin to “negotiating with Hitler”, with Western officials telling the New York Times this week, the issue was “splitting” the defensive alliance. 

Macron has reportedly engaged with Putin on at least 16 occasions since December 2021, with many Western leaders urging a total blackout on talks with the Kremlin, until it ends the war.

Macron’s office, according to the Telegraph, said it was important to make sure Putin was aware of demands, while Nato’s secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said “we expect a further Russian push in the eastern and southern Ukraine” int he coming weeks, with the US and EU preparing harsher sanctions. 

The controversy comes as France prepares to go to the polls, with Emnauelle Macron facing off against right-wing rival, Marine Le Pen.