Stop calling Putin! Macron appears to be scolded by the Estonian PM

For a man who likes to present himself as a Jupiter-like statesman, gliding across the world stage, Emmanuel Macron’s efforts at diplomacy have fallen remarkably flat in recent months. While Britain spent the weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine shifting weapons to Kyiv – to demonstrable effect now – Macron instead responded to the troop build-up by going on a doomed diplomatic mission to Moscow. Unsurprisingly, his face to face with Putin, across an absurdly long table in the Kremlin, did not work out.

Undeterred, Macron has spent the weeks following the invasion keeping up a close relationship with Putin, and has spoken a number of times to the bloated authoritarian on the phone. It’s an approach that has not gone down well in Ukraine at least, with President Zelensky hitting out at Macron this week, saying his dialogue with Putin is ‘in vain’.

But now could Macron’s have-a-go diplomacy also be fraying tempers in the rest of Eastern Europe?