By Mairead McArdle
Wednesday, September 30, 2020
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday urged Europe
to extricate itself from dependence on American weapons systems while also
defending France’s recent diplomacy with Russia.
“We, some countries more than others, gave up on our
strategic independence by depending too much on American weapons systems,”
Macron said during a debate with students at the University of Vilnius in
Lithuania.
“We cannot accept to live in a bipolar world made up of
the U.S. and China,” the French president continued.
Macron also attempted to reassure the presidents of
Lithuania and Latvia during his three-day visit visit to the two countries that
France’s recent diplomatic efforts with Russia are aimed to benefit their
countries, which remain skeptical of Russian intentions after the poisoning of
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Macron vowed that Russia would face
unspecified consequences for Navalny’s poisoning and called on Russia to
provide an explanation for his death.
Stronger European defense systems would support NATO, not
replace it, Macron argued.
“We are conscious of your neighborhood as well as your
history and it is in this spirit of mutual understanding and transparency and
of protection of your security that we wanted to contribute to relaunching a
strategic dialogue with Russia,” Macron said at a press conference alongside
Latvian President Egils Levits.
“This dialogue doesn’t deny any parts of our European
histories, but wants to face our history and our geography,” Macron said.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linas Linkevičius expressed
skepticism Monday about French overtures to Russia, saying that while dialogue
can be productive, it must bear fruit.
“We understand the desire to have dialogue because
channels are always important in diplomacy,” Linkevičius told Politico.
“Dialogue for the sake of dialogue is not what we want to see, it creates an
impression of business as usual.”
France’s relations with Russia stiffened after Russia’s
2014 annexation of Crimea, but Macron attempted to reopen diplomatic channels
last year.
Macron’s remarks echo his previous call in November for
Europe to develop independent defense systems to maintain “strategic autonomy,”
when he warned about “the brain death of NATO” due to the U.S. taking a more
distant approach to the alliance.
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