London and Paris — NATO allies are warning French President Emmanuel Macron not to “soften” his support for Kyiv days before he hosts a summit focused on resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
“NATO is firmly committed to Ukraine,” Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to the alliance, told the Washington Examiner. “I believe the French are as well. We’ll all be there to make sure and work to strengthen Ukraine and not let anyone soften the approach to letting Ukraine be Ukraine.”
Hutchison made that observation amid widespread angst about Macron’s desire for a “strategic dialogue” with the Kremlin, which has been isolated from Western circles since Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and attack on eastern Ukraine. The NATO Leaders’ Meeting in London last week simmered with frustration as Macron prepares to host Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 9 for the Normandy Format. The forum, which also involves German Chancellor Angela Merkel, was designed to help end the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“It’s quite the contrary,” a French official in Paris told the Washington Examiner in response to Hutchison’s comments. “I think we are doing all we can to bring peace to that area to help President Zelensky.”
The official added, “He was received here before his election — just after his election, as well.”
Allies and Western observers are focused on the international order.
“We have said to both the Germans and the French that it is very important that their role in these talks would be focused on restoring international law and order and European security,” Estonian Defense Minister Juri Luik told the Washington Examiner, emphasizing that Macron and Merkel should not try “mediating” between Zelensky and Putin. “I see their role more as facilitators, but also people who guarantee that the international community is present and Putin cannot use his trump cards of, de facto, having conquered parts of Ukraine.”
“It’s hard not to think that by legitimizing Putin, legitimizing Russia, trying to invite them back into the conversation, that they’re somehow not getting a pass for what happened in Crimea, what is currently happening in eastern Ukraine,” Christopher Skaluba, director of the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, told the Washington Examiner. “So, I’m sure if you’re a Ukrainian official, a Ukrainian citizen, you feel a little bit hung out to dry.”
Hutchison was appointed by President Trump and confirmed unanimously on the expectation that she would be a steadying presence when Western officials worried that Trump would weaken support for Ukraine. Still, her message to Macron is a difficult one for an American official to deliver in the context of House Democratic lawmakers preparing to impeach Trump for refusing to meet with Zelensky unless the Ukrainian leader accused 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of corruption.
