Ukraine: Emmanuel Macron publishes transcript of phone call with Vladimir Putin

THE MIRROR Ukraine: Emmanuel Macron publishes transcript of phone call with Vladimir Putin Marc Röhlig - 1 hour ago | Four days before the Russian invasion, French President Macron tried to placate Kremlin chief Putin on the phone. A documentary now shows the conversation – and the moment when Putin has better things to do. Ukraine: Emmanuel Macron publishes transcript of phone call with Vladimir Putin Four months ago, Russia launched an illegal invasion of Ukraine. The attack shocked the world, but it was already in the air in the days before. The Élysée Palace has now published the transcript of a phone call between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The phone call took place four days before the Russian attack - and shows how pacification seemed hopeless even then. "Thank you, Emmanuel," Putin said, according to the transcript, "it's always a great pleasure to talk to you because we have a relationship of trust." Then the Kremlin chief praised the efforts of Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz to implement the Minsk agreement - and began to spread his view of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. »Our dear colleague Zelenskyj doesn't do anything. He's lying." The phone call was filmed as part of a documentary about Macron and the Ukraine war. The full video will be released on June 30th by French TV channel France 2. "It was one of the most difficult subjects I've ever worked on in my life," documentary filmmaker Guy Lagache told French magazine 20 minutes. In the conversation, Putin referred to Zelenskyy's alleged demands for nuclear bombs and Macron's demands for a revision of the Minsk Agreement. He angrily rejects both claims. Putin ignores the backlash and now praises the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Macron is now indignant: "I don't know where your lawyer studied! (...) I don't know which lawyer would go so far as to claim that legal texts in a sovereign country are drafted by separatists.« Then, according to the record, he tries again to de-escalate: »If we want to give dialogue a chance, then we have to calm down the game.« "I want to play ice hockey now" At the time of the call, Russia and Belarus were already holding joint military exercises on the border with Ukraine. The invasion followed a short time later. When asked about the exercises, Putin dismissed them. They were "probably" over by the evening. "I want to play ice hockey now," Putin explains shortly afterwards, "to be honest, I'm already talking to you from the sports hall." After the phone call, Macron told documentary filmmaker Lagache: "We couldn't convince him and he invaded Ukraine." He had hoped to find a way to get in touch with Putin through an intellectual discussion.