soon, it is the visit of the president of russia vladimir putin to china and the visit of the president of the people's republic of china xizen ping to france, to what extent these visits can really reflect china's desire to be such a mediator between moscow and the west, or is it primarily just part of this chinese policy to keep its own influences both in moscow and in europe? well, this is primarily about... the interest of china and it is very wide-ranging, as for putin, it is obvious that today china does not deny or hide that they are close strategic partners who coordinate external global issues, and as for putin, of course, after re-election, he needs to demonstrate his importance, both to the domestic audience and to the external audience, and the chinese are such a...

weak force. in addition, these visits will take place in the month of may, as you said, and it is important that we do not know the exact dates now, because chinese diplomacy, it has such a peculiarity, not to talk, not to advertise about all these events, but nevertheless, it is obvious that putin's visit may take place before the trip sitting down to europe, and in addition to the things they will discuss regarding their bilateral relations, well will also discuss the position regarding the so-called peace, possibly initiative of china, which he is currently actively promoting. as for two more countries, for example, i am now watching a lot of materials about the fact that chinese banks have seriously limited financial transactions, even with the yuan, that is, if earlier they limited only financial transactions with the dollar, then with the yuan. regarding russian companies and made

serious checks, they are afraid of doubles secondary sanctions, because the ministry of finance has now undertaken to check all these financial transactions, has more tools, so, for example, i still read a lot from experts who deal with bilateral business relations, as for business, they also think that between putin and sidzenpinim , there will be talks about how to conduct economic activities in these conditions , given that their trade has grown and will continue to grow, and russia relies heavily on this relationship. as for europe, china also has its own serious one interest, first of all economic, because china would really like to separate the economy from security, but it is unable to do so in relations with europe. union, and against this background

, china has to be convinced that it is necessary to establish relations, well, there are a number of factors, and this is the internal policy of china, which concerns, for example, pressure on companies, and as a result, for example, european western companies do not invest in china, do not expand theirs and are very serious with such a serious . with crimea regarding how to proceed their relationship will develop, this is the first question, that is, sitin pinu, who is going to europe for the first time in 5 years, needs to be convinced that he is still a very reliable market. the second question, for example, every european leader has repeatedly emphasized that the relationship between china and the european union, and european countries separately, will be built, relying on how china will behave

in the russian-ukrainian war, and china hopes quite constructive actions, and hopes that china will not help russia to circumvent sanctions in general in the war, and since china does not understand well, let's not say that it does not help and does not pay attention to it, three chinese companies were included in the latest sanctions package of the european union against russia. the russian military and defense complex, i.e. in this way, well, there is a certain signal that in the future chinese companies may enter, the chinese do not like it very much, and their representative, who came from the shuttle diplomacy regarding the settlement of the ukrainian crisis, as they call it, in the european capital cities discussed precisely these sanctions, obviously they are worried about them, because he said he emphasizes that china does not... recognizes unilateral

sanctions there, which are not recognized by the un security council. well, everything is clear with that, because they would never pass in the un security council. that is, there is a question of such, strictly speaking, of such an internal nature, but, that is, i have already said that the relations of the european union with china are seriously tied to the economy on the one hand, and on the other hand to the behavior in war, and china, as we see you, is now trying to demonstrate his such a constructive role and a desire to become a mediator and an intermediary, and what is interesting, china, from my point of view, now sees a great chance for... itself to become that mediator and offer its services and thus improve relations with the european union. well, this is connected with what is happening in political circles, and with those discussions in the united states of america, with the possible

re-election of trump and the possible focus, change of focus of support for both ukraine and europe, in general, and during the munich vanvi security conference , china's top diplomat, he learned such certain worries in european circles regarding relations with the united states and security in general, and certain worries about the fact that russia may attack european countries, nato countries, that is, from its side, china is trying to offer itself as a european union as a country that can be a mediator and bring peace to the european continent. china, by the way, always wanted to create such an alternative to the united states, but it did not succeed, because in any case for european countries, the american support, even more so, is safe, it was

a dogma, and now, well, that is, talks about that strategic autonomy, which china regularly called for, it seems that they can become real. ness, and it is obvious that this is also one of the important issues and one of the important missions for china in the complex to offer both diplomatic support and the settlement of the so-called ukrainian crisis, and instead to settle economic relations, because when we look, for example, at the chinese sources, then they talk less about their own problems, it is implied, but they keep it secret, obviously, but nevertheless they often talk about the fact that this is the so-called ukrainian crisis. it had a negative impact on the economies of europe, that they suffer very seriously from inflation, and well, obviously, this is also such a goal that it is necessary to establish and strengthen economic relations, because there are problems in the economies of countries, and france in particular, it is, well, from the point of view

of china it is seen as more so, on the one hand, the most influential country in europe, in terms of its... economic weight, in terms of desire as the president of france himself, and france to be the leader of the european union, and well, we will remember last year's reception of macron in beijing, china rolled out the red carpet there and tried to appease him somehow, and even then it looked like china was trying to split european unity, western unity, it then was more complete. in the issues of supporting ukraine, confronting russia, and in the issues of derision, removal of risks, which were seriously discussed and are being discussed and implemented in the european union, and then it was very contrasting and visible, as, for example, rusula fonlein, who came with macron

, received such a cold reception, one might say, and it was absolutely simple, despite the fact that the door was open for macron and er... almost xi jinping's native house, well , that explains why choosing the place for his visit, xijin pin chooses and influences ukraine, and the one that, from his point of view , and china, with which it is possible to get along. and tell me, when china says that its participation in the so-called peace forum, which is to be held in switzerland in the near future, should depend on whether moscow is invited, why at all... should china associate its presence at these or other such conferences, which in principle have a diplomatic rather than concrete nature with the presence of russian representatives. well , in fact, this global summit, it is not only organized by ukraine, but also

, as a matter of fact, it relies on the peace formula of president zelensky, and from the point of view of china , it is difficult to support precisely the ukrainian version. peace, because, well, first of all, russia expressed its absolute displeasure and absolute rejection of this formula, and well, we have to understand that china, unfortunately, it is not... on the side of ukraine, and now china is playing at the split, so i would say, of the work that ukraine and our partners have done for a long time, and is trying to make its own corrections, which are of such a pro-russian nature, because on the one hand it was stated by the ambassador in switzerland that china could participate, it was such a... this is such a signal, perhaps for switzerland, because china is interested in having good relations with

european countries and switzerland, in particular, from the point of view of these investments, and from the point from the point of view of economic relations, that is, i said that he is trying to cut windows to europe through countries with which he seems to be able to reconcile, well, switzerland is one of them, and that is, to refuse switzerland, which officially asked china to participate, because their minister.. of border affairs visited beijing at the beginning of february and officially invited this is important for switzerland, it is a country that organizes such a serious global summit, and it also needs to maximize this presence, that is, it is impossible, but at the same time, when we look at the sources of the ministry of foreign affairs of china, when we look, for example, at the press conference and the content of the press conference, which was held after the trip to europe and russia. given by the special representative of china, he says that we

are in favor of an international conference with the representation of both sides on equal terms and the discussion on equal terms of various peace proposals, and here we see a completely opposite proposal from what this global summit actually entails , that is, no one asked china to make any... proposals, china was invited to take participation in what is, well, but he is now starting to take such steps as to convince both the swiss side and the swiss side, and when their representative was on a trip, he voiced the position to each capital that russia should also be brought to the table negotiations, because without it they will have a zero result, and we still see it on equal terms, of course. that on equal terms it is nothing, because russia will present what we have heard about its aggressive intentions, and what's more

, when it comes to peace proposals, china obviously has this one in mind the plan that he presented, and here it is important to immediately return to the words of the representative of china, the special representative for the results of the trip, where he says on the one hand that china has always... insisted that the parties sit down at the negotiating table, he supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of ukraine, not ukraine, of different countries , he says, but at the same time this crisis, it has very deep roots, because after the cold war, there was still a block confrontation, and the interests of different countries were not taken into account, security without consideration of interests other parties... cannot be built, that is, here we see immediately behind this sovereignty

what russia is talking about, that if the expansion of nato, it would force it to start a war, and china confirms this in an overwhelming form, and thus russia's unaccounted-for security interests mean that it is they who force it to wage war, that is, at the moment , we see absolutely such a destructive position. decorated in such a beautiful candy form and the desire to bring peace, so to speak. thank you, thank you, ms. natalia, natalia we had pleksianko botyrska , an expert on issues of east central asia, on the phone, and now we will talk about the topic that we already talked about with ms. natalya, about france, about the french position on all these issues with maria oleksa yeschenko, journalist and editor on french television , congratulations ms. maria, well, it has already passed, some time has already passed since

president macron spoke about the possibility of the presence of nato troops on the territory of ukraine, what does the situation look like now with these considerations. you know, very similar it's kind of a roller coaster, because the first time he made this statement at the end of february, the first reaction was very negative, inside france there was already sociology. 68% of french people said that they do not agree with the position of the president, the opposition completely criticized and destroyed all his arguments. european partners, as we know, did not agree either. the french president, but he continued to draw that line, and the latest example is this past saturday was an interview in the daily newspaper liu parisian, where he even used the expression ground operations, and he said that france would never be the initiator of such an approach or such operations or the sending of troops, but he does not want

to reject anything, any scenario, and so, well, literally a week ago. again, emmanuel macron returns to this topic, despite the fact that several of his ministers have already chewed up, explained to the population the fact that , first of all, we are talking about non-combat tasks, we are talking about demining and so on, but the president, well, it is clear that this line continues pushes well, basically, why do you think he continues to be a fan of an idea that he clearly isn't is popular among the french? what is he counting on, is this a political idea or a security idea? i think there are... two components, this is a safe idea, because macron himself said about it, france is 6-12 months behind in its strategic thinking and decision-making. he also said this, after the meeting with volodymyr zelenskyi, after the international conference on ukraine, which was held in the elysee palace, that we all said no to tanks, no, long-range weapons, no

air defense, we always exhibited these red lines, but only we europeans... were the ones who drew these lines. russia did not escalate in any way with its european partners, directly after the european partners crossed these red lines one after another, because we started, let me remind you, with helmets and sleeping bags in february, march 2022, and now already long-range weapons from the same france, scalp, anti-aircraft, air defense systems, and so macron learned from his own experience. and he thinks in terms of security and knows that in 6-12 months, it may already be too late to start talking about sending troops, it must be done now, and the second component is, i think, his personal ambitions, but it is very important not to forget that macron personifies this european a leader , he wants to be one, does he consider it legal or illegal that

he is the one who is pulling this european initiative to help the country at a time when olaf scholz is disappointing more and more, although according to the numbers, germany is slightly winning before france, but maybe not in strategic decisions of some kind, at a time when the states are completely blown away, and macron takes this leadership, and it is important for him, to be this visionary who can lead ukraine to victory, and he will be able to write this on his track record in 2027, when he himself will not be able to run for a new term. and, by the way, do you think that after this meeting of the weimar triangle of emmanuel macron, olaf scholz and donald tusk, the atmosphere itself has somehow changed, primarily in french-german relations? they at least tried to convince everyone yes, there is no conflict, there is no weakening of relations, and in general it is important to understand that this franco-german friendship, well, it is such,

such a foundation of europe, at least in berlin and in paris they are convinced of this, it is such a duo that... well if it carries this old europe, and this is extremely symbolically important, that after the second world war these two countries became friends, and until now, every time a new chancellor or a new president is elected in france, the first visit to europe must take place precisely in germany or to france, respectively, they conduct a series summits throughout the year, and this relationship is extremely important, so after the meeting, of course, macron and olaf scholt, on their part , did everything necessary to smooth out... these corners to say that there are some disagreements and different visions on certain issues , however, well, we did not quarrel, and it is very interesting that at the press conference, emmanuel macron still used some more words, well, the vocabulary, let's say, german, he said that france would never take the initiative escalation, france will never

advocate that in any way to provoke some unfolding of events in europe. and then this very interview that i mentioned took place on the plane, on the way back to paris, and very, by the way, this is often already a tradition, emmanuel macron always talks very sincerely with journalists right on the plane after his visits, somewhere and such small, interesting phrases appear after that. well, by the way, if the continuation of this weimar triangle already after the summit it suddenly became known that poland and france agreed on a common position on restrictions on the supply of ukrainian grain. and this has already led to the fact that the european commission cannot continue this situation with the final cancellation of restrictions for ukrainian products for another year, how much france? are these restrictions on ukrainian products necessary, to what extent are french farmers really hindered by ukrainian supplies? well, how to say, for what they say, it is what they are hindering, yes,

the amount of ukrainian wheat on the french market has increased by 17, 17 times, and of course, it is often about transit, but there are some european groups, in particular the spanish, not the french, by the way, who are buying this grain because they had a long period of drought, and they want to resell this grain, because they bought it at a good price, so there is a lot of talk about it , in general, france is currently experiencing such a difficult period in terms of farmer protests, they lasted a very long time, there were many of them, and macron simply had to somehow appease french farmers, and by the way, if we talk about restrictions, restrictions on the import of ukrainian chicken have already been adopted , corn as well, oats, that is, this is only ... the beginning, if only, this is the beginning of this trend , which, unfortunately for ukraine , will continue to emerge, the argument that is still given in favor of suspending these, so to speak,

preferential conditions for of ukrainian grain and other goods, it is the fact that since august some corridor through the black sea has started to work, there are alternative routes, they are not completely safe, but they exist, and this is an argument that is becoming more and more frequent. the fact that it is necessary to invest more money in the security of the odesa port is also cited ensuring that this transport takes place, the transportation of this grain takes place without any obstacles, and then europe as a transit route will disappear altogether as a necessity, but this is very often talked about now, in principle, if we are talking about the european integration of ukraine, then this is already the position , like the french, the poles, will it not be a problem for our further european integration, because... european integration is not only slogans, it is primarily a free market. yes, of course, and you know, it's very interesting here, whether it's new or already, already old ones, no longer new, they make a little fun of

new, new ones, like ukraine, roughly speaking that poland, romania, countries that joined the eu relatively recently, compared there with france, germany, with the founding countries, if they had suffered their they also survived their quotas, their adaptation, their entry into this market, as it were, and they said... now it's ukraine's turn to adapt too, and that no one will make any discounts or preferences there, just because of what is going on in the country war, after all, business, business as usual, as they say, the fact that polish farmers and so on do not have to adapt to any special requirements of ukraine, and they always add that in the course of two years, after all , there were a lot of concessions, and now ukraine somehow has to cope on its own , these are, well... let's say, such backroom discussions , of course, they are not voiced, although sometimes they are voiced publicly by some marginal political forces, but in fact it is so, it is just a hint to ukraine that no one will

take you to the eu with as if with wide arms, it will be necessary to go through the same difficult path that other countries that were integrated there decades ago went through. how do you generally see the situation between france and russia today, so we can... see that from africa the french have to go into it at a more serious, i would say, pace, and now we learned from niger, which was a strategic base for france, the new military junta, it is still expelling the americans, but how do paris look at these, i would say the african successes of the russians, i think there are two, two aspects to this question, political question and sociology, if we talk about sociology, then 60% of french people... consider russia, russia a danger for france, this is a very interesting sociology, because after all, well, this is more than half of the population who understand that such or otherwise, russia

threatens the interests of france. another aspect is political: well, all the operations in africa were very important for macron, for his so-called political career, for seeing himself also as a leader who managed to expel the jihadists from the african region of the sahel and. operation barkan was extremely important to macron before it was curtailed, why was this operation curtailed? there are also two reasons for this: it is the russian presence, which is growing more and more, this is a fact, but it is also sociology: the operations of the french military in africa were not popular among the french population, and perhaps right here, looking ahead, and french operations potentially in ukraine will also not be popular among the french. such sociology is preserved. the french do not like to send their soldiers to fight. abroad for some ghostly possible strategic interests of your country, but you asked about relations between france and russia in general, i think emmanuel

macron has a personal grudge against vladimir putin. it is, because at some point macron really believed that he could convince putin that he could, with his diplomatic skill, his talent, his charisma, i don’t know what else, convince the dictator not to attack ukraine, during his last visit two weeks before full-scale invasion. macron believed in it. putin has traditionally lied, and well , actually betrayed this trust, and macron very much so on'. naively offended, he doesn't talk about it openly, of course, but it can be seen from his speeches, from interviews, from how his tone towards russia has changed over the past two years, well , just radically, it even comes to the point that in his close circle, they say none other than putin's regime, well, the elections , if they didn't react to the elections, by the way, they were russian, it was interesting, for some reason i expected until the last that there would be some kind of remark from the elysian palace that we...

absolutely do not recognize these elections and so on, therefore, there is no relationship as such, although in the same interview on the plane, where macron said many interesting phrases and lines, he agreed with the idea that if putin calls him, macron will pick up the phone, he, he is interested to hear that putin has to tell him if he calls him one day, so this is again this french opening of doors, no longer sitting on two chairs, because after all, it is chosen to stay from ukraine. to victory, but this is an open door, but i understand that putin will also wait for him macron will call, and they can't wait for a conversation between them for many more years in this situation, maybe, but do they really need to talk, or if we are interested to know what will come of this conversation, i don't know, these conversations have been so a lot before a full-scale invasion, when somewhere potentially theoretically it was still possible

to stop something and prevent something from happening... now i don’t see much sense in this, personally, if macron and putin see it from their side, then yes, it will be interesting to see the results . and as in france comments on the terrorist crocus hall, will it increase interest in russia, maybe empathy? you know, unfortunately, the empathy of the french for the russians has not disappeared anywhere, from time to time, when some russian topics appear, be it putin's speech or... a terrorist attack or some other information-pretext, i will tell you honestly, as an employee of the french media, french journalists rush to these topics because they have this desire to talk about russia, to try to understand it, this deep russian mysterious soul, it is there, i don’t know how to explain it and if the duration of historical ties between the two countries, some hidden or undisguised russophilism of the french, but this interest

is there, all the channels on the night of the terrorist attack switched to a non-stop marathon about the events in moscow, this is just to give you an example, when putin makes some big statements, for example , there was a big speech when he annexed four ukrainian regions, it was broadcast on news channels, they broadcast putin's speeches and translate them with simultaneous translation, here are some examples of the slightly unhealthy interest of the french in russia, which of course, it is explained by the fact that you need to know the enemy face to face, understand him, and maybe it will help to predict his next step, but this interest is there, and it has not disappeared, and empathy is also there, and by the way, i will add, that when voting took place in russia in the pseudo-elections, the french had the feeling that oh, look how brave the russians are, they go to the polling stations, they stand in these queues, this is a silent protest to navalny's call, regarding navalny, here in general, if everyone the french

react very, very lively to this surname. and saw in this to a person simply as if there was a messiah of some savior of russia, that is why there is this interest, although france, it is worth saying, remains with ukraine both in words and in actions, and we hope for victory. thank you, ms. maria, maria oleksa yeshchenko, journalist, editor of french television, we were in touch, now we will take a break for a few minutes, so please stay with us, there are more interesting dialogues ahead. tired of heavy and bulky saws, then the tv unboxed strong saw is just for you, with it you can easily cut trees and bushes, it is so it is convenient to use for carpentry, it is an ideal tool for your home or garden, and the price is only from uah 1,499, a reliable battery is also included, just call now and order, it is possible for free.