NEW YORK TIMES: …Backing President Vladimir V. Putin into a corner will not work, he said, giving a high-level voice to what is seen as mounting sanctions fatigue among European politicians, as the Ukraine crisis lurches into a second year.
“I’m not for the policy of attaining goals by making things worse,” [President François Hollande] said in the interview on France Inter radio. “I think that sanctions must stop now.”
Russia’s position is misunderstood, he suggested. “Mr. Putin does not want to annex eastern Ukraine, I am sure — he told me so,” Mr. Hollande said. “What he wants is to remain influential. What Mr. Putin wants is that Ukraine not become a member of NATO. The idea of Mr. Putin is to not have an army at Russia’s borders.” … (more)
EDITOR: Like George W. Bush, Hollande must have looked into Putin’s eyes and seen character that eludes the rest of us. We suggest Hollande pay more attention to what Putin does than what he says.
