French President Emmanuel Macron has rebuked US President Joe Biden’s accusation that Russian leader Vladimir Put is committing genocide in Ukraine, implying such claims are not ‘prudent’.
Accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of being responsible for genocide is not conducive to peace efforts, French President Emmanuel Macron seems to have implied with comments made on Wednesday.
The French head of state made the comments in relation to President Joe Biden’s accusation that Putin has been conducting a genocide in Ukraine.
While the US Commander-in-Chief appeared adamant when claiming that a genocidal Putin is “trying to wipe out even the idea of being Ukrainian,” Macron appears to be taking a far more careful stance on the matter.
“I would say that Russia unilaterally launched a brutal war, that it is now established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army and that we must now find those responsible,” Le Figaro reports the French President as explaining.
“…but at the same time I look at the facts and I want to try as much as possible to continue to be able to stop this war and to rebuild peace, so I’m not sure that the escalation of words serves the cause,” he said, his claim in stark contrast with Biden’s recent verbal approach to the conflict.
The publication also reports Macron as expressing the desire to take a more “prudent” approach to the ongoing conflict, one which appears to be seemingly at odds with that taken by President Biden.
This is not the first time that Macron has reprimanded Biden over his Russian rhetoric.
The French President has previously stepped in after the American labelled Putin “a butcher” who “cannot remain in power”, publicly criticising the Democrat President over the fiery comments.
“I would not use those words,” Macron said in response to Biden’s apparent nod towards regime change in Moscow, before adding that “everything must be done to stop the situation from escalating”.
“If we want to do that, we can’t escalate either in words or actions,” he went on to say.
However, while Macron has pushed back against the fiery anti-Putin rhetoric, officials in Ukraine have appeared only to fan the flames, with the country’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, voicing support for Biden’s genocide allegations online.
“True words of a true leader,” the Ukrainian President said in a post online regarding Biden’s accusation that Putin was involved in genocide in Ukraine. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil.”
Zelensky followed up his praise with a request for more “heavy weapons”, the supplying of which one ex-advisor to former Chancellor Angela Merkel has said could help kick off World War III.
“We are grateful for US assistance provided so far and we urgently need more heavy weapons to prevent further Russian atrocities,” Zelensky said.
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