Faustian bargain? Negotiation with Putin more important than war crime trials, says Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron is willing to make the hard choice. In a wide-ranging speech at an EU leaders' conference, Macron said it may not be possible to send Putin to face war crime trials when he is the only one that can negotiate an end to the Ukraine war.

In the frankest remark yet by a Western leader, Macron said it would be putting the stakeholders in an impossible situation if such a choice is not made.

“The timing issue – and this is where I want to be very transparent and honest with you. The question is if in a few months to come, you have a window for negotiation with the existing Russian political power, the question will be an arbitrage between a trial and a negotiation, I will be very frank with you," said Macron.

“And you will have to negotiate with the leaders you have, de facto, even if the day after you will have to judge them in front of them of the international justice. So this is a question of articulation. Because otherwise, you can put yourselves just in an impossible situation where you say: ‘I want you to go to jail, but you are the only one I can negotiate with,’” he added.

Offer Ukraine security guarantees: Macron

Earlier, Macron called on theWest to offer Ukraine "tangible and credible" security guarantees as the war lingers.

"We provide plenty of weapons to Ukraine, but we have not added it to any strategic security dialogue. If we want to carry weight with Russia, if we want to be credible to the Ukrainians, we must give Ukraine the means to prevent any further aggression and include it in sustainable security architecture," said Macron

"That is why I'm in favour, and this will be the subject of collective talks in the following weeks...to offer tangible and credible security guarantees to Ukraine," he added.

Macron's clarity

Macron, in recent months, has emerged as one of the few Western leaders that has absolute clarity regarding contentious global issues. After visiting China in April, Macron advised Europe saying it must strive for 'neutrality' on the Taiwan issue, adding that the bloc cannot be a follower of either the US or China.

“The question Europeans need to answer...is it in our interest to accelerate [a crisis] on Taiwan? No. The worse thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and take our cue from the US agenda and a Chinese overreaction,” Macron told French business daily Les Echos and Politico on his plane journey back home.

Even then, Macron cited the example of the Russia-Ukraine war where the EU, despite its relative cohesion, had not been able to resolve the situation.

“Europeans cannot resolve the crisis in Ukraine; how can we credibly say on Taiwan, ‘watch out, if you do something wrong we will be there’? If you really want to increase tensions that’s the way to do it.”

(With inputs from agencies)

WATCH WION LIVE HERE: