French President Emmanuel Macron has refused to call the crimes of the russian army in Ukraine a genocide, since he considers Ukrainians and russians to be "fraternal". He stated this on the air of France 2, - LIGA.net writes.
Macron was asked if he, like the U.S. President Joe Biden, could call the actions of the russian army in Ukraine genocide.
"I would be careful with such terms today, because these two peoples (russians and Ukrainians - ed.) are brothers... I want to continue trying, as far as possible, to stop this war and restore peace. I am not sure that the escalation of rhetoric serve the cause", - he said.
At the same time, he believes that "the situation is unacceptable" - and "unprecedented war crimes are taking place on the European soil".
"Russia unilaterally launched an extremely brutal war, it has now been established that the russian army committed war crimes, and now we must find the culprits", - Macron added.
Last weekend, Macron won the first round of French presidential election against far-right politician Marie Le Pen by a margin of 4%.