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French President Emmanuel has put Russia in a strong position in its
face-off with the West.
The upshot is an uncomfortable relationship with Europe, while relations with the US remain fraught. Europe needs Russia’s help in conflict theatres like Syria and Libya, and is actively seeking an end to the undeclared war
in Ukraine. However, Macron predicted Moscow would remain "extremely aggressive in the months and years to come,” during remarks made at the Munich Security Conference.
The Munich meeting has emerged as the leading forum to try and deal with the growing problem of a resurgent Russia and China, both of which are now economically stable and starting to flex their considerable military muscle – something that has exclusively been the preserve of Nato for most of the last three decades.
Munich is always closely watched as Putin used the forum to lay out Russia’s position on relations with the rest of the world in a now famous speech in 2007. Then Putin complained that all the promises made to Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union concerning limiting Nato’s expansion
Macron called for improving
relations with Russia at the annual Munich Security Conference, but said
it was not time to drop sanctions and warned that Russia will continue to try and undermine western democracies.
The West is fighting a rear-guard action after it has lost the initiative in geopolitics to rising emerging market powers, including Russia and China, according to the "Westlessness" report produced ahead of the annual summit, but trans-Atlantic rivalries and the EU's internal tensions are preventing an effective response.
The West continues to worry about
the Kremlin's attempts to undermine western democracies. Russia has been accused of interfering in a string of elections, most notably the 2016 vote that put US President Donald Trump in the White House and Britain's Brexit referendum, although no concrete evidence has been produced.
The Kremlin was also cleared of collusion with Trump by special prosecutor Robert Mueller last year after which some of the hysteria surrounding Russia has died away.
“The West is fighting a rear-guard action after it has lost the initiative in geopolitics to rising emerging market powers”
Macron, together with his German counterpart Chancellor Angela Merkel, has since led a drive to at least normalise relations with Russia.
The Kremlin has also warmed to the idea of improving relations as it sets
off on implementing a RUB25.7 trillion ($390bn) investment drive as part of the 12 national projects that are supposed to “transform” the Russian economy. Following a government reshuffle in January, Russia is looking to boost investment and growth as Russian President Vladimir Putin clearly feels he
were broken and he warned Russia would respond if nothing changed. Nothing did. In 2012 Putin launched
a massive modernisation of Russia’s military and in 2014 he annexed the Crimea peninsula to ensure control over Russia’s main naval port in Sevastopol among other things. Russia also sent troops to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine to support separatist rebels
and destabilise the country to stymie its move closer to Europe.
Despite these problems both Merkel and Macron have started to offer the
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