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Macron's Courtship of Putin Alarming Russia's Near Neighbors

Jamie Dettmer

   Two years ago, France's Emmanuel Macron was widely seen as the most
   bellicose of Western leaders when it came to confronting Moscow over
   its annexation of Crimea and its fomenting of violent separatism in the
   Donbas region of Ukraine.

   Now, he is heading calls for Russia to be brought back into the Western
   fold, and his diplomatic outreach is making some of France's allies
   nervous.

   On Monday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian dubbed a landmark
   prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine as a "window of
   opportunity" to ease tensions. Speaking just 48 hours after Moscow and
   Kyiv exchanged a total of 70 prisoners, he said "the time is right to
   work toward reducing the distrust between Russia and Europe, who ought
   to be partners on a strategic and economic level."

   Le Drian welcomed "a new state of mind, which we have not seen for
   several years."

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