Putin Blames West for Ukraine War in Call with Macron

In his first phone conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron since 2022, Russian leader Vladimir Putin asserted on Tuesday that the conflict in Ukraine is a direct result of Western policies.

According to a Kremlin statement issued on Tuesday, July 1, Putin told Macron that Western nations had “for many years ignored Russia’s security interests” and “created an anti-Russian bridgehead in Ukraine.”

Putin also conveyed to the French president that any future peace agreement should be “comprehensive and long-term,” aiming to eliminate the fundamental causes of the Ukrainian crisis and acknowledge the “new territorial realities.”