‘Putin knows France and Germany are weak’ Russia to exploit ‘frightened’ Macron and Scholz

Retired Lt Col Glen Grant, now a defence analyst for the Baltic Security Foundation, described how the European Union’s reluctance to wade into the tensions around Ukraine will be exploited by a Russian president who places no value in diplomacy over concrete action. France and Germany have attracted some criticism for stepping back and handing negotiations over to the US and the UK, who have vocally backed the sovereignty of the former Soviet state. The former lieutenant colonel told Express.co.uk: “He [Putin] already knows that both Germany and France are weak, and frightened of this whole thing.

“He will play on that.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has been more involved in the conflict than new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has remained quiet on the escalating tensions in Eastern Europe.

Mr Macron is expected to speak with Vladimir Putin on Thursday, adding on Wednesday he may visit Moscow for in-person discussions over Ukraine.

He added this would be dependent on progress made in Thursday’s conversation.

It follows a statement by French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in which he reiterated France’s offer to station troops in Romania was not a provocation to the Russian leadership.

This comes after the US announced they would move 2,000 troops to Germany and Poland, plus an additional 1,000 from Germany to Romania.

The move was condemned by the Kremlin as inflammatory and “destructive” amid continuing high tensions.

However, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the move was temporary, adding: “These forces are not going to fight in Ukraine.

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“If they had been firm from the outset and said [to Putin], ‘Stop no more, no more agreement, no more, no more arguments about Minsk [the Minsk agreement] – either you pull back or we pull out and we tell everybody in the world that, you know, you’re not doing it’, then it would have been clear seven years ago.”

He added: “The current government of Russia does not understand diplomacy because diplomacy involves compromise and there cannot be any compromise with Putin.

“He does not understand compromise. It’s not in his vocabulary.

“He either wins or he loses. And if he loses, he comes back again to win. Next stage.

“The fact that France and Germany have been talking and talking for seven years and have not grasped that there is no chance of diplomacy is extremely worrying.”