French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday supported Donald Trump’s outreach to Russia over Ukraine but called on the United States to back any European troop deployment as a form of security guarantee.
“We want a quick deal but not a fragile one,” Macron said at a joint news conference at the White House.
Macron flew to Moscow weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago in an unsuccessful bid to dissuade Russian President Vladimir Putin. Like then US president Joe Biden, Macron soon cut off contact with Putin.
Macron said there was “a big change” in that there was a new US administration.
“There is good reason for President Trump to re-engage with President Putin,” Macron said.
But Macron said he shared Europe’s own experience in negotiating after an earlier conflict in Ukraine a decade ago.
“In 2014, our predecessors negotiated peace with President Putin, but because of the lack of guarantees and especially security guarantees President Putin violated this peace,” Macron said.
“So this is why being strong and having deterrence capacities is the only way to be sure it will be respected,” he said.
Macron, who has mulled sending French troops to Ukraine to preserve any peace, said it was critical for the United States to offer support.
“A lot of my European colleagues are ready to be engaged, but we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees,” he said.
Trump and Biden both ruled out sending US troops to Ukraine, and Trump has pressed for Kyiv to sign a deal to hand over mineral wealth to the United States.
Macron said: “I think we should never say I will never send boots on the ground, because you give a blank check to violate any type of commitment.”
