The President of the Republic on Thursday justified his decision not to use the word genocide against Vladimir Putin by considering that "verbal escalation" was not going to "help Ukraine" and could lead Westerners to intervene.
The French president clarified on France Bleu that he spoke in the morning with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, who on Wednesday had deemed "very hurtful" his refusal to denounce "genocide" in his country.
The two heads of state were to speak again at the end of the day, he said.
“The word genocide has a meaning” and “must be qualified by jurists, not by politicians”, declared Emmanuel Macron, on a campaign trip to Le Havre (Seine-Maritime).
According to him, “the States which consider that it is a genocide must by international conventions to intervene.
Is this what people want?
I don't think so”, because that would be “becoming co-belligerent” of the conflict.
“I keep the same line of action: to do everything to stop this war, to be at the side of the Ukrainians, to continue to have the measures of solidarity and to work to find peace and protect our compatriots from the war”, he said. concluded on the radio.
To read also Genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity... how to qualify the abuses committed in Ukraine?
Several leaders, including US President Joe Biden, accuse Vladimir Putin of carrying out a "genocide" in Ukraine, a position welcomed by kyiv.
But, in addition to Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres have refrained from using this term.
“Genocide is strictly defined in international law.
And at the UN, we rely on the legal determination of the appropriate judicial bodies,” Guterres said.
This Thursday, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted a resolution describing as "genocide" the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine, calling on parliaments, governments and international organizations to do the same, according to its Telegram channel.
The resolution also plans to ask the UN, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE and that of NATO, as well as the governments and parliaments of the world to also recognize the actions of the Russian army in Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people".
