PARIS: France and Germany urged Russia’s Vladimir Putin Saturday to end the deadly days-long siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, the French presidency said after three-way talks.
“The situation is very difficult and humanly intolerable” in Mariupol, a source in the Elysee presidential palace said, after what it termed a “very frank and difficult discussion” with the Russian leader.
“The only decision President Putin must take is to lift the siege.”
French President Emmanuel Macron’s office also accused Putin of “lies” for alleging that Ukrainian forces had committed human rights abuses by using civilians as human shields.
The 75-minute three-way phone call with Macron, the Russian leader and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz focused on France and Germany’s call for an immediate cease-fire and steps toward a diplomatic solution, sources in the French and German leaders’ offices said.
Macron told Putin “the Russian army’s abuses must cease,” the source said, warning that its actions could qualify as war crimes.
They said the two leaders spoke separately before the call with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who asked them to call on Putin to halt the fighting.
Russian forces are closing in on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and bombarding several other cities. The offensive has driven millions of Ukrainians from their homes.
Zelensky also asked the leaders to help secure the release of the mayor of the city of Melitpol, who he said has been abducted by Russian forces.
“We are putting on maximum pressure and we will not let up,” the French presidency said.
Macron demanded “very strongly that the conflict cease as quickly as possible in order to avoid the worst, including (Russia) resorting to illicit weapons or destroying cities,” it added.
US President Joe Biden on Friday vowed that Russia would pay a “severe price” if it used chemical weapons in Ukraine.
Macron has taken a leading role in trying to engage with Putin over Russia’s offensive.
The Elysee says he has had nine conversations with the Russian leader since meeting him at the Kremlin on February 7. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
Macron, Scholz urge Putin to end siege of Mariupol: France
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Macron, Scholz urge Putin to end siege of Mariupol: France
- "The situation is very difficult and humanly intolerable" in Mariupol, a source in the Elysee presidential palace said
- Macron told Putin "the Russian army's abuses must cease", the source said, warning that its actions could qualify as war crimes
Farmers block Paris streets to protest planned free trade agreement with South American nations
- The protest piles yet more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government, a day before EU member states are expected to vote on the trade accord
PARIS: French farmers blocked roads into Paris and landmarks such as the Arc de Triomphe on Thursday, in protest against a sweeping trade deal the EU is due to sign with South American nations.
Farmers from the right-wing Coordination Rurale union called for the protests in Paris amid fears the planned free trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc will flood the EU with cheap food imports.
They also protested high costs and excessive local regulations and demanded an end to a government policy of culling herds of cows in response to a highly contagious cattle disease, which they consider unwarranted.
“We are between resentment and despair. We have a feeling of abandonment, with Mercosur being an example,” Stephane Pelletier, a senior member of the Coordination Rurale union, told Reuters beneath the Eiffel Tower.
The farmers overran police checkpoints to enter the city, driving along the Champs Elysees avenue and blocking the road around the Arc de Triomphe before dawn, before gathering in front of the National Assembly.
National Assembly President Yael Braun-Pivet was booed and jostled when she stepped outside of the assembly’s gates to talk with the Coordination Rurale protesters.
Dozens of tractors obstructed highways leading into the capital ahead of the morning rush hour, including the A13 leading into Paris from the western suburbs and Normandy, causing 150 km of traffic jams, the transport minister said.
Farmers from the FNSEA and young farmers’ unions joined them later at the Eiffel Tower in a calm demonstration.
“We’re going to import products from the rest of the world that don’t meet our standards — that’s not possible, that’s unacceptable. So we’re staying mobilized, we’re carrying on,” Arnaud Rousseau, president of the FNSEA farm union, told reporters, referring to the Mercosur deal.
The protest piles yet more pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his government, a day before EU member states are expected to vote on the trade accord. Without a majority in parliament, any policy misstep by Macron risks a perilous vote of no confidence in the chamber.
France has long been a stiff opponent of the trade deal.
Even though Paris has won significant last-minute concessions, the trade deal is a political hot potato for the government, with municipal elections in March and the far-right polling strongly ahead of the 2027 elections to replace Macron.
“This treaty is still not acceptable,” government spokesperson Maud Bregeon told France Info radio.
French Farm Minister Annie Genevard said on Wednesday that, even if EU members backed the accord, France would continue to fight against it in the European Parliament, whose approval will also be required for the agreement to enter into force.
This week, the European Commission proposed making €45 billion of EU funding available to farmers earlier in the bloc’s next seven-year budget and agreed to cut import duties on some fertilizers in a bid to win over countries wavering in their support for Mercosur.
The deal is backed by countries such as Germany and Spain, and the Commission appeared closer to winning Italy’s backing.
Rome’s support for the deal would mean the EU had the votes needed to approve the trade accord even without French support.
A vote on the accord is expected on Friday.
