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| - French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday said it was essential to continue dialogue with Russia despite its "huge mistake" in jailing opposition figure Alexei Navalny. Macron has long pushed for a working relationship with Russia under President Vladimir Putin and renewed his commitment to the strategy during a question and answer session with the Atlantic Council think tank. A Russian court this week sent Navalny to prison for over two and a half years, compounding Western anger after his poisoning last year that Europe says was through the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok. "I think this is a huge mistake, even for Russian stability today," Macron said of the Moscow court's ruling, which critics say aims to silence Navalny. But he added that he advocated ongoing dialogue because Russia was "part of Europe" and it was "impossible" to have peace and stability in Europe without being able to negotiate with Russia. Macron had caused controversy by declaring in a 2019 interview that NATO was "braindead", partly because of the behaviour of key member Turkey, which had launched unilateral military operations in Syria. "Turkey put ourselves in a crazy situation," said Macron, who spoke in English throughout the session, adding that the credibility of NATO, US, France was "totally destroyed in the region". Tensions then intensified further between Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But since the election of US President Joe Biden, Ankara has adopted a softer tone, saying its future is at the heart of Europe. "The coming months will be critical. I welcome very much the recent declarations of President Erdogan," said Macron, saying this was due to the European response and the "reengagement" of the new US administration. Macron also raised eyebrows, particularly in Germany, by saying Europe needs "strategic autonomy" enabling it to handle its defence matters without relying on the US. "Our duty definitely is not to put ourselves in a situation to depend on US decisions," said Macron, adding a mindset needed to be changed that "built the concept of the absence of European defence". sjw/adp/jxb
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