[Archyde.com, 10th Paris]-Russian President Vladimir Putin spent most of his time complaining following the end of the Cold War in this week’s meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron over the crisis in Ukraine, two aides to President Emmanuel Macron said.
According to aides, President Putin repeatedly touched on issues regarding the 1997 agreement that led to the accession of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and other countries to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and the agreement has traditionally not expanded NATO. He said he would violate his promise.
NATO says it has not made any such promises.
Putin also said he was “a coup” regarding the Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine in 2014 and that he was “controlled by the United States” regarding President Zelensky of Ukraine, who was elected in 2019.
“We realized that the current President Putin has changed significantly from three years ago at this five-hour or longer meeting,” said an aide. At the French-Russian summit meeting held in France in 2019, he said, “It was not as rigid as this time, and it did not emphasize history.”
The meeting was held between President Macron and President Putin, with no aides and only one interpreter.