DOMINANT ANGLE
Paris is separating the invitation extended to Vladimir Putin for the G20 in Miami from the reality on the front, where Sergey Lavrov has just closed the door to any pause in the war, just hours after Volodymyr Zelensky said he was ready for an energy moratorium and Emmanuel Macron called for a "double moratorium" on strikes.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
On Tuesday, September 22, at the UN podium, Emmanuel Macron advocated for a "double moratorium" on strikes against energy sites in Russia and Ukraine.
- 02
On Wednesday, September 23, before the Security Council, Sergey Lavrov responded: "We will not pause our special military operation," accusing Europe of wanting to "supply arms" to Ukraine.
- 03
Kiev criticized Paris for obtaining the removal of sanctions against Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov in Brussels, in exchange for the pardon of a French detainee in Azerbaijan.
ANALYSIS
Paris, Thursday, September 24, 2026. In New York, where the United Nations General Assembly week is coming to a close, the invitation extended by Washington to Vladimir Putin for the G20 in Miami in December adds to a diplomatic chaos that Paris had attempted to organize around a single idea: a limited ceasefire on infrastructure. On Tuesday, September 22, at the UN podium, Emmanuel Macron pleaded for a "double moratorium" on strikes against energy sites in Russia and Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky, who was received by Donald Trump on the same day, said he was "ready" to suspend attacks on Russian installations "on condition that Moscow does the same".
The response came the next day from Sergei Lavrov, the head of Russian diplomacy, before the Security Council: "We will not pause our special military operation," he said, accusing Europe of wanting "to obtain a pause to use it to supply arms" to Ukraine. It is in this context that the American invitation fits: Secretary of State Marco Rubio summarized the logic with a phrase repeated in the French press, "to solve problems, you have to meet with the people you disagree with". No meeting is announced as imminent, but Miami is presented as an opportunity for Putin to meet Trump and other leaders.
On the ground, diplomacy has not suspended anything. On Wednesday, two people were killed and 43 injured in Kiev in drone strikes that damaged a gas station and a business center, while a Russian attack hit a cargo ship in Odessa, killing its Ukrainian captain. At the podium, Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Putin's "madness" and claimed that Moscow is mobilizing citizens from 47 countries, including North Korea, to prolong the war.
The sequence is complicated, from a French perspective, by a collateral dispute: Kiev has criticized Paris for obtaining, in Brussels, the withdrawal of sanctions targeting Russian oligarch Alicher Ousmanov, in exchange for the release of a French detainee in Azerbaijan. Zelensky sees this as a breach in the sanctions front intended to deprive Moscow of the means to finance the war - at the very moment when Washington is opening the door to Putin for an international summit.
SOURCES (5)
- 20 MinutesMEDIUM
- Le Monde InternationalMEDIUM
- Sud OuestMEDIUM
- HuffPost FranceMEDIUM
