Enlarge image
Emmanuel Macron at the UN
Photo: Mary Altaffer / dpa
French President Emmanuel Macron sees a resurgence of imperialism in the Russian war of aggression.
"What we have been experiencing since February 24 is a return to the days of imperialism and the colonies," the French head of state told the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
France rejects this, strives for peace and therefore Macron continues to seek dialogue with Russia.
Macron explained that current imperialism is neither European nor Western.
"It takes the form of a territorial invasion modeled on a hybrid and globalized war that uses the price of energy, food security, nuclear safety, access to information, and popular movements as weapons of division and destruction." War on everyone's sovereignty.
Macron criticized that some countries had supposedly remained neutral in the conflict.
You were wrong.
He reminded them of their historical responsibility: "Those who remain silent today serve against their will or secretly, with a certain complicity, a new imperialism, a contemporary cynicism that is disrupting our international order, without which peace is not possible."
Macron called for resolute action to ensure that Russia ends the war.
It's not about choosing a camp between East and West or North and South.
"It's about the responsibility of all those who are bound by respect for the charter and our most valuable asset, peace." Cohesion is also important because the consequences of the war threaten to divide the world.
Everything must be done to ensure that this division does not come about.
The challenges were becoming more and more numerous and urgent and required new cooperations.
"If it weren't tragic, we could laugh"
Macron has described the planned mock referendums in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine as an additional provocation.
"It has no legal validity," Macron said on Tuesday before his speech to the UN General Assembly.
"The mere idea of organizing referendums in areas that have experienced the war is a sign of cynicism." Russia must leave Ukraine and respect the internationally recognized borders.
The Moscow-occupied regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine and the Cherson region in the south as well as military rulers in the Zaporizhia region want to have a vote on accession to nuclear power Russia this week in controversial proceedings, as the regions announced on Tuesday.
These are sham referendums because they are being held without Ukraine's consent, under martial law and not according to democratic principles.
The work of independent international observers is also not possible.
Macron made it clear that he sees the mock referendums as an imitation and parody of a democratic process.
"If it wasn't tragic, we could laugh." They would have no legal consequences.
dop/dpa