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France 24
France 24
Politics

‘Wrong about Putin’: Did Germany and France turn a blind eye to the threat from Russia?

Russian President Vladimir Putin presents flowers to Germany's Angela Merkel during her last visit as chancellor at the Kremlin in Moscow on August 20, 2021. © AP handout, Kremlin pool photo

The escalating civilian toll of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has fuelled calls for a reappraisal of more than a decade of French and German efforts to engage with a leader whose forces stand accused of committing horrific war crimes in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s embattled President Volodymyr Zelensky did not mince his words as he addressed Western leaders in a video message late on Sunday, just hours after witnessing the trail of death and destruction that Russian forces left in their wake as they retreated from Kyiv’s northern suburb of Bucha.

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