French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday accused Russia of engaging in historical revisionism on World War II, but said during a visit to Poland that a strong Europe needs to remain open to honest dialogue with Moscow.
Macron addressed students and faculty members at Jagiellonian University in Krakow on the second day of his trip.
Both the French leader and Polish officials called the visit a breakthrough for relations between their nations.
Speaking at the university, Macron condemned the Kremlin’s efforts to blame the outbreak of World War II on acts by Poland and some western European governments.
He said “scientific and historical facts” clearly show that Poland, which was occupied by Nazi Germany throughout the war, was a victim and suffered immense losses in its population.
While Moscow’s misrepresenting of facts needs to be kept in mind, Macron said that Russia is part of Europe geographically and should not be isolated as the EU looks toward the future following the UK’s departure last week.
“I am convinced that we can build an architecture of stability, of peace, of trust in Europe only if we talk with Russia, [but] not yield things to Russia, not forget what it did or what it does, but demand a de-escalation,” Macron said.
“I think it a major error to distance ourselves from a part of Europe that we don’t feel comfortable about,” he said.
French companies engaged in trade with Russia have pressured Macron to repair relations with Moscow and to ease economic sanctions. The companies are central to Macron’s political base.
The Polish government favors maintaining EU sanctions on Russia for its activities in Ukraine, including the 2014 seizure of Crimea.
Another reason for Macron reaching out to Russia is his disillusionment with Washington’s foreign policy under US President Donald Trump, who has made important decisions without consulting European allies.
Commenting on France’s view of Moscow, Polish Ambassador to France Tomasz Mlynarski said that the EU should speak with one voice in its dialogue with Russia and that there is “no room for avant-garde ideas.”
Poland’s relations with Russia are strained and remarks by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the start of World War II have added to the tension.
Poland rejected the allegations as untrue.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, on Tuesday said that Poland has not yet been invited to ceremonies scheduled for May 9 in Moscow to commemorate the end of World War II.
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