For those of you who don’t know, the so-called Normandy format was created to resolve the difficult situation in the East of Ukraine. France is one of the participants. As you know, Emmanuel Macron has recently won the presidential election in France. This means that he is going to become the successor to Francois Hollande as President of France, participating in the Normandy format as the French representative.
According to Russian political observer Andrey Piotrovskiy, Emmanuel Macron is likely to shift the balance of powers in the Normandy format in favor of Ukraine. President Elect Macron is known for his pro-Ukrainian and pro-American views and statements. This leads us to believe that he is going to support Kiev in their confrontation with Moscow.
This is why the times when the Normandy format could press Ukraine are gone. At the same time, pressing Putin will be hard for Macron and Merkel. For that purpose, they need America’s support. However, Macron’s significance in the European life shouldn’t be underestimated as well since France is a major political player in Europe. He is also expected to reinforce Merkel’s stance, who is against Russia’s aggression in the East of Ukraine.
That’s why the expert predicts that, if backed by America, France and Germany are going to exert pressure on Putin to let Ukraine regain control over the entire Ukrainian territory. Apparently, Putin will resist as much as possible. The expert also hopes that a new person will become President of the Russian Federation in 2018 to change the situation. There is no way the Western world can assault Russian since this is a nuclear superpower. That’s why they are expected to keep on using political and economic methods to reach their goal.
