West divided as Ukraine urges allies to boycott Putin swearing-in

Just last week President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine saying if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines it would be legitimate to consider it if Kyiv requested the support. The Baltic states, which no longer have envoys in Moscow, have categorically ruled out attending the inauguration.

Germany and most European Union countries looked poised to boycott a Kremlin ceremony to swear in Vladimir Putin for a new six-year term on Tuesday, though France and several others were expected to send an envoy in spite of an appeal by Kyiv. The varying diplomatic response by the Western powers underscored a difference of opinion over how to handle the Russian leader more than two years after he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It was unclear if the U.S. or Britain would attend the ceremony that comes after Russia on Monday announced it would hold tactical nuclear weapons drills it said it hoped would cool down "hotheads" in the West. Putin won a landslide victory in a presidential election in March just weeks after his most prominent opponent Alexei Navalny died in jail. Western governments condemned the re-election as unfair and undemocratic.

"Ukraine sees no legal grounds for recognizing him as the democratically elected and legitimate president of the Russian Federation," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Tuesday's swearing-in ceremony, it said, sought to create "the illusion of legality for the nearly lifelong stay in power of a person who has turned the Russian Federation into an aggressor state and the ruling regime into a dictatorship."

A senior Kremlin official said it had invited the heads of all the foreign diplomatic missions in Moscow to attend Putin's inauguration, the Interfax news agency reported. A European diplomat told Reuters that 20 EU member states would boycott the event, but that seven others were expected to send a representative.

The EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, was against the bloc participating in the event, spokesperson Peter Stano said in Brussels. Germany's Foreign Ministry said it would not be represented, and two European diplomats said they did not expect the U.S. to send an envoy, although Washington has not made a public announcement.

But, underscoring the divisions over how to deal with Russia, a Paris diplomatic source said: "France will be represented by its ambassador to Russia." The source said France had previously condemned the context of repression in which the election was held, depriving voters of a real choice, as well as the organisation of elections in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia, which France considers a violation of international law and the United Nations Charter.

Franco-Russian relations have deteriorated in recent months as Paris has increased its support for Ukraine. Just last week President Emmanuel Macron did not rule out sending troops to Ukraine saying if Russia broke through Ukrainian front lines it would be legitimate to consider it if Kyiv requested the support.

The Baltic states, which no longer have envoys in Moscow, have categorically ruled out attending the inauguration. "We believe that the isolation of Russia, and especially of its criminal leader, must be continued," Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

"Participation in Putin's inauguration is not acceptable for Lithuania. Our priority remains support for Ukraine and its people fighting against Russian aggression."

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)