In conditions when the scales of war and peace in the center of Europe are frozen in an unstable balance and can swing both in one direction and in the other, French President Emmanuel Macron set off on an intermediary diplomatic mission to Moscow and Kiev.

The European leader, whom in Europe itself at first few people took seriously, considering him an errand boy for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and in Russia was sometimes ridiculed at the level of a number of experts and the media, to the disappointment of the army of his haters, eventually became in European politics figure of the first magnitude.

This was fully confirmed by the talks held in the Kremlin on Monday, which lasted six hours.

During the press conference following the meeting, the presidents of Russia and France made a number of important, if not sensational, statements, allowing, if desired, to see the light at the end of the tunnel of the endless Ukrainian crisis.

Thanking the President of France for his efforts to resolve issues related to Ukraine and relations between Russia and NATO, Vladimir Putin said: to put them in the basis of our further joint steps.

“France takes the most active part in solving fundamental issues of European security.

Your predecessors did the same: it concerned the crisis that arose after the Georgian attack on South Ossetia, it concerned the development of the Minsk agreements and then the organization of the Normandy format.

And I see how much effort the current leadership of France and personally the President of France are making in order to resolve the crisis associated with ensuring equal security in Europe for a serious historical perspective, and to resolve issues that are closely related to the first part, namely, the resolution of the intra-Ukrainian crisis in the south-east of the country,” Vladimir Putin said, addressing the French guest as “you”.

The Russian leader called the President of France "dear Emmanuel", thus showing

It is still hard to imagine that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could become “dear Boris” for Vladimir Putin, and US President Joe Biden could become “dear Joe”.

It's not time yet.

In turn, addressing Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron noted: “We see that you have a very strong position, which does not always coincide with the European and Western position, this must be emphasized.

We have different views, we need to understand and accept this.

We have considered this in detail.

I believe in Europe and in the unity of Europe, this is fundamental.”

“I am glad that there is an opportunity to discuss all topics in depth, and we can collectively begin to develop a practical answer for Russia and for all of Europe.

A useful, practical answer is one that avoids war, of course, and builds stability, transparency and trust for all,” Emmanuel Macron added.

The talks in the Kremlin make us think again about the “Macron phenomenon” in French, European and world politics.

This phenomenon is still a mystery to many.

It must be admitted that Emmanuel Macron made a lot of efforts to assert himself and take place as a politician both at the national level and among the cohort of world leaders.

One can argue about the results, but he forced himself to be reckoned with.

According to the latest polls, he remains the most popular politician in his country, although his approval rating of 24% has fallen by 1.5 percentage points over the past month. address of covid dissidents.

The presidential election is just around the corner: competitors do not give up hope to enter the Elysee Palace, insisting that great France deserves a completely different leader.

But the striking thing is that the French economy under President Macron is showing the highest growth rate in the last three decades, and in the context of a pandemic.

As for relations within the Euro-Atlantic community, only his phrase about "NATO's brain death" will go down in the history books of the first half of the 21st century.

After this statement, some considered him an accurate diagnostician, if not a NATO pathologist, others considered him an enfant terrible of European politics.

But in the end, President Macron found that independent voice that may turn out to be more in demand today than ever.

Why?

The number of ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating the situation around Ukraine has not yet been transformed into a new quality.

The dreadful question of whether there will still be a war or not has not been closed.

But something has to be done about it.

In addition to the United States and Russia, new players are needed who are ready to offer their initiatives in the face of the Moscow-Washington clinch.

The notion that only Russians and Americans can negotiate between themselves, and whether they agree or not agree, so it will be, while the European allies of the United States are destined for the role of extras, turned out to be superficial and erroneous.

Perhaps the first in Europe to realize this was President Macron, who recalled that there is not only a “Washington Regional Committee”, but also a “Paris City Committee”, which, from January 1 of this year, took over a six-month chairmanship of the EU Council.

In recent weeks, the French leader has developed an unprecedented diplomatic activity, the continuation of which is his two-move this week.

After meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, he went to communicate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.

After the departure of Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, who claims to be the new informal leader of the EU, considers the Ukrainian crisis a decisive test of Europe's ability to become an independent center of world diplomacy and play an active role in solving security problems.

Confirmation of these ambitions of his, which were fully revealed, perhaps, only today, were the statements of the Elysee Palace following the recent video conference of US President Joe Biden with the leadership of NATO, the EU and the leaders of a number of European powers.

“De-escalation requires firm and convincing warnings to Russia, continued coordination between European partners and allies, and an intensified dialogue with Russia,” the office of the French president said.

“We have one goal - strategic security in Europe,” the Elysee Palace added, emphasizing that France wants to ensure that “Europeans speak the same language.”

Moreover, President Macron took aim at getting the European Union actively involved in the process of negotiating Russian security proposals, making the EU third party after the US and NATO in the discussion of Moscow's initiatives put forward on December 17 last year.

“We need to agree on specific measures in order to stabilize the situation and lead to de-escalation.

And we discussed this together, in the coming days and weeks this should be confirmed, ”Emmanuel Macron said leaving Moscow.

Noting that much will depend on further negotiations and consultations with the United States, NATO, Europeans, as well as on his meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, the French President emphasized that "the coming days will be decisive."

In general, after the lessons of English did not allow everyone to find a common language in the search for ways out of the systemic crisis of international security, of which Ukraine has become the core, now it remains to rely on the lessons of French.

The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editors.