Macron does not rule out stripping Putin of France's top honour

French President Emmanuel Macron has not ruled out revoking France's top honour, the Légion d'Honneur, awarded to Russian President Vladimir Putin by his predecessor Jacques Chirac in 2006, explaining that he wants to choose "the right moment to do so."

Source: French newspaper Le Figaro, as reported by European Pravda.

Macron presented the Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur [the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour] to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was passing through Paris on his second trip outside Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian invasion, on Wednesday evening. This is the highest honour that a French president can bestow upon a counterpart. Answering questions from journalists after the EU summit in Brussels on Thursday night, he explained that this award is "an element of justice and recognition of our country" concerning the Ukrainian President.

But the informal ceremony where Zelenskyy was awarded the Légion d'Honneur at the Elysée Palace revived the demands of those who want France to deprive Putin of this distinction. In 2006, Jacques Chirac presented the Russian president with the Grand'Croix de la Légion d'honneur. This decision immediately caused controversy. The organisation Reporters Without Borders, in particular, tried through the courts to deprive the master of the Kremlin of this award, but in vain.

Referring to a "symbolic but important issue," President Macron said:" I am not prohibiting myself from anything (...), but this is not a decision I have made today." These decisions "are always fraught with meaning, and I think you need to evaluate the right time to make them."

It has been reported that French President Emmanuel Macron said he prefers "more useful" and "faster" weapons than combat aircraft in military aid for Ukraine.

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