French President Emmanuel Macron has been at the forefront of Europe in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the tone between Moscow and the West hardened, says SVT's European correspondent David Boati in Rapport.
- Now that Angela Merkel is gone and France is the presidency of the EU, he has put on the European leadership jersey.
You could say that Europe is playing a bit of good cop, bad cop right now.
Soft hand, hard hand
Boati points out that Macron was in Russia and showed understanding for Putin, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was in Washington DC and showed loyalty to US President Joe Biden.
After the meeting, Biden stated that Russia can forget the Nord Stream 2 glass pipeline if the country invades Ukraine.
- Extend a soft hand and tie a hard hand.
That seems to be the strategy.
But how it goes in the end is very much about what Putin wants.
Do not want to show weakness
SVT's correspondent in Russia, Bert Sundström, emphasizes that Putin will probably not back down from what is at the core of his demands: that Ukraine may never become a member of NATO.
At the same time, Putin may feel that the price of a possible invasion is too high.
But he also does not want to appear as if he has given in, so he can advantageously drag out the negotiations until they run out of sand.
- It might even suit Putin quite well that this is dragged on a long bench, he says.