The French President, Emmanuel Macronassured this Tuesday that he achieved, during his meeting on Monday with his counterpart Vladimir Putin, the guarantee that “there will be no degradation or escalation” in the crisis that confronts Russia with Western countries over Ukraine.
“For me, it was about… preventing an escalation and opening up new perspectives… And this goal was achieved,” Macron told reporters before landing in Kiev for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Also read: Europe is experiencing ‘the most dangerous moment’ since the Cold War, says the EU
The French president was on Monday in Moscow, where he met with the Russian president for more than five hours. “I have assured that there will be no deterioration or escalation,” said Macron, who said he found his Russian counterpart “determined, quite sure of himself and moving forward with his logic.”
Macron’s diplomatic tour will continue in the afternoon in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has just returned from a meeting in Washington to discuss the issue with the US president. Joe Biden.
Westerners fear an invasion Of Ukraine, as tens of thousands of Russian soldiers have been deployed on the Ukrainian border for weeks. Facing one of the worst crises between Russians and Westerners since the Cold War, the Europeans have intensified diplomatic contacts in recent days. – There would be no “winner”.
Pour preserver la stabilité, la paix et réenclencher des mécanismes de confiance pour notre Europe, notre devoir est de travailler ensemble. Nous sommes l’un et l’autre convaincus qu’il n’y aucuna raisonnable solution que ne passe par le dialogue. Alors, continuans. pic.twitter.com/fOr5a7j8M0
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) February 7, 2022
The French president said on Monday that he had received assurances from Putin about “the stability and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” Putin, for his part, considered that “some ideas” from his French counterpart could “lay the foundations for common progress” and plans to speak with him again after his trip to Kiev.
“We will do everything possible to find compromises that satisfy everyone,” the Kremlin leader said, assuring that neither he nor Macron wanted a war between Russia and NATO that “it would have no winner”.
Also read: European diplomacy tries to take control in the Ukraine crisis
Putin, who did not say anything about the Russian troops deployed on the border with Ukraine, once again denounced the West’s refusal to give in and put an end to NATO’s enlargement policy and to withdraw its military assets from Eastern Europe. Russia presented its demands as the conditions for de-escalation. But according to the French presidency, Putin agreed to consider Macron’s proposals, including a commitment not to take new military initiatives by either side, the start of a dialogue on the Russian military position, peace talks on the Ukraine conflict.
Russia would also commit to withdrawing its belarus troops, once the maneuvers were completed in February. Russia already invaded a part of Ukraine in 2014, when it annexed the Crimean peninsula. Since that year, pro-Russian separatist militias, supported by Moscow, have faced the Ukrainian army in the east of the country, leaving a balance of more than 13,000 dead.
The French president is the first high-level Western leader to meet with Putin since tensions escalated in December. Scholtz will also meet the Russian president in Moscow on February 15, after a visit to Kiev.
Russian statements
Russia affirmed this Tuesday that the de-escalation around the situation in Ukraine is “very necessary” because, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, tensions are increasing “with each passing day.”
“As far as de-escalation is concerned, this is very necessary, because the tension is increasing with each passing day,” the spokesman said in his daily telephone press conference, adding that Russia sees that “Western countries send troops to Ukraine, they send planes loaded with weapons, they send military equipment” and Ukraine conducts exercises and “tests the weapons it is receiving”.
“This, of course, causes new spirals of tension,” stressed the spokesman for the Russian Presidency. Peskov indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday that “unfortunately” he has not received a response from the United States and NATO on the essence of the Russian demands for security guarantees.
AFP and EFE
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