Details of the confidential exchange between the two world leaders on February 20 were revealed in a new documentary on Macron’s handling of the ongoing conflict, titled “A President, Europe and War,” which premiered last week on the France 2 channel . As Russia was in the process of massing its forces in preparation for a full-scale invasion at the end of February, Macron called his Russian counterpart to express his views on the escalating situation and discuss “useful actions” to dislodge it. . Putin quickly turned the conversation to “our dear colleague Mr Zelensky”, accusing the Ukrainian president of “lying” to Macron about his intention to implement the Minsk Agreements, which were meant to end the war in the Donbass region . Putin then took issue with Zelensky’s apparent refusal to negotiate with pro-Kremlin Ukrainian separatists, angering the French president and prompting him to exclaim in audible frustration: “I don’t know where your lawyer learned the law!” Macron questioned the qualifications of Putin’s lawyers during a tense exchange over Russia’s proposal for Ukraine to negotiate with pro-Kremlin separatists. APTTwo weeks before the phone call, Macron (right) met Putin in person in Moscow.SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images He then added: “I don’t know what lawyer would be able to tell you that in a sovereign country, the texts of laws are proposed by separatist groups and not by democratically elected authorities.” Putin responded to his French counterpart, claiming that Zelensky’s government was not democratically elected. “They came to power in a bloody coup, with murder and arson and people being burned alive,” Putin told Macron. Zelensky, a former comedian and actor, was elected in a landslide in 2019 with more than 73 percent of the vote. As the verbal spat intensified, Macron told Putin he “doesn’t give a damn about the separatist proposals” because they are outlawed. After some more wrangling, France’s leader tried to put the discussion back on the diplomatic track and proposed a meeting between all sides of the conflict. He also promised Putin to call Zelensky to “calm everyone down” but urged the Russian leader to turn down the heat on the border with Ukraine. “There was a lot of bombing yesterday,” Macron pointed out. “If we want to give dialogue a chance, we need to calm things down in the region.” Putin said his forces would complete their military exercises that evening, but warned that Russia “will definitely leave a military presence on the border until the situation in Donbas calms down.” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday denounced the “unilateral leak” of the confidential phone conversation, calling it a breach of “diplomatic ethics.” AFP via Getty Images Macron urged Putin “not to give in to provocations of any kind” and pressed him to agree a face-to-face meeting with President Biden in Geneva in the coming days, but the Russian leader declined to name a specific date, covering his brush. away with pleasure. Putin then ended the call by telling Macron: “To be honest with you, I wanted to go play ice hockey because here I am talking to you from the gym before I start physical exercises.” Despite his assurances to Macron that he had agreed “in principle” to meet with Biden to find a diplomatic solution to the brewing crisis, the very next day Putin recognized the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic and Ukraine’s Luhansk People’s Republic . And three days after that, Russian forces launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, dropping artillery fire on cities and towns, including Kiev. During a trip to Vietnam on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov took aim at France for releasing the contents of the top-secret conversation. “In principle, we lead the negotiations in such a way that we are never embarrassed, if you like,” the foreign minister said. “We always say what we think and we are ready to answer for our words and explain our position. I believe that diplomatic ethics, of course, does not allow such a unilateral leak of the recording.”
