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Is Russia Trying to Revive French Courtship?

Jamie Dettmer

   The Kremlin appears to be hoping it can revive the interest of France's
   President Emmanuel Macron in thawing the European Union's frosty
   relations with Moscow, hoping that in turn could lead to a lifting of
   sanctions on Russia, say analysts.
   This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a courtesy call to his
   French counterpart to discuss the cease-fire in the disputed central
   Asian territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Russia brokered a truce
   following a fierce flare-up of hostilities between Armenia and
   Azerbaijan. The Nagorno-Karabakh enclave is run by ethnic Armenians but
   located in Azerbaijan.
   The Kremlin readout of the conversation emphasized friendliness, saying
   the two leaders concluded their talks by "wishing each other happy
   holidays and agreed to continue contacts at various levels."
   That is a far cry from the tense phone encounter between the pair in
   September when Macron demanded an explanation for the poisoning of
   Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader who fell gravely
   ill late August and was evacuated to Germany for life-saving treatment.
   The French press reported that Macron was furious when Putin suggested
   Navalny probably had poisoned himself to make Russia look bad and
   denied the Kremlin was behind the attempted assassination.
   Western diplomats say it is noteworthy that Kremlin officials, as well
   as Russia's state-controlled media outlets, have been restrained in
   their language in recent weeks about France, while firing off
   broadsides at Germany, accusing Berlin of being eager to do
   Washington's bidding.
   The Kremlin also held back from echoing criticism of French policies
   toward Islam by Chechnya's governor, Ramzan Kadyrov, a Putin ally, who
   lashed out at Macron over his proposals to combat radical Islam.
   Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov publicly said the Chechen leader
   shouldn't comment on international matters.
   "Befriending France is important to Russia as another point of leverage
   to reverse the European Union's sanctions policy toward Moscow,"
   according to Valery Dzutsati of the Washington-based Jamestown
   Foundation, a research institution. "Bilateral relations, marred by the
   poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny in August, could
   still see a revival," he suggested in a Jamestown commentary.
   Other analysts say Russia's apparent wooing of Macron is in
   anticipation of the arrival of Joe Biden in the White House. Biden has
   dubbed Russia "an opponent." Biden also bluntly blamed Navalny's
   poisoning on Moscow. "Once again, the Kremlin has used a favorite
   weapon -- an agent from the Novichok class of chemicals -- in an effort
   to silence a political opponent," he said last year. "It is the mark of
   a Russian regime that is so paranoid that it is unwilling to tolerate
   any criticism or dissent," Biden added.
   Four years ago, Macron was widely seen as among the most outspoken of
   Western leaders when it came to Moscow's annexation of Crimea and the
   Kremlin's fomenting of violent separatism in the Donbas region of
   eastern Ukraine. At a joint press conference at the palace of
   Versailles and fresh from his election victory in 2017, Macron took
   Putin to task for a host of Russian actions.

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