Macron refused to consider Russia's actions in Ukraine as genocide

According to Macron, he does not intend to follow the example of American politicians in assessing the actions of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the restrained rhetoric of the French leader is to avoid a "verbal escalation" of the conflict.

“Words have meanings. You need to be careful, because my role is to bring peace or at least stop this war”, - Kommersant quoted Macron as saying.

Macron explained that he did not want his words to "add fuel to the fire" of the conflict.

Earlier, Macron said that he considers Russians and Ukrainians to be fraternal peoples. When he refused to call Russia's policy towards Ukraine "genocide", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he should discuss the remark made by the French President in the near future.

Earlier, his rival in the presidential elections, the candidate from the National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, expressed his solidarity with Macron's opinion regarding the concept of "genocide".

Meanwhile, former and current US Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have publicly stated that they consider Russia's policy during the military special operation in Ukraine to be "genocide".

In response, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia categorically disagrees with the opinion of US President Joseph Biden that what is happening in Ukraine is "genocide" by the Russian Federation.

He added that the Kremlin considers "an attempt to distort the situation in this way is unacceptable".