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Politico (7 February 2022)

BY DAVID M. HERSZENHORN AND GIORGIO LEALI

After more than five hours of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, there was little doubt Emmanuel Macron walked into the grizzly bear’s den — and he got mauled. 

With more than 100,000 Russian troops and heavy weapons massed on the Ukrainian border, the French president and his advisers had insisted that, among Western leaders, Macron was uniquely positioned to convince Putin to follow a path of de-escalation. 

Instead, Putin chose the path of defiance, declaring that Crimea is Russia and that if Ukraine joined NATO, European countries would “automatically” be at war with Russia. Jabbing a finger in the air at a French reporter, he said that “Russia is a military superpower and a nuclear superpower” and warned: “There will be no winners and you will be drawn into this conflict against your own will.” 

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