Emmanuel Macron’s remarks on Russia set alarm bells ringing

French president’s comments after Ukraine talks with Vladimir Putin should concern Nato alliance, writes Patrick Wintour

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, meets France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, in Moscow. Picture: Sputnik/Reuters

Domestic critics of Emmanuel Macron, Nato hardliners and the leadership in Ukraine will be suspiciously examining the French president’s late-night remarks at his Moscow press conference for signs of freelancing.

At one level, Macron, three months from a re-election campaign, stuck pretty faithfully to the script he had exhaustively agreed with his Nato partners before his meeting with Vladimir Putin, but at another level his particular view of Russia as a European nation, and lofty talk of new security guarantees, will have set alarm bells ringing.