Putin surprises by advocating Macron for “a de-escalation” and the dialogue around Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with French President Emmanuel Macron. . / Reuters

The Kremlin hints that it could settle for recognition of the independence of the rebel republics of Donetsk and Lugansk

For the first time since the beginning of a crisis whose peak phase will soon enter its third month, conciliatory messages were heard this Friday. Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a telephone conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that a “de-escalation” is needed to ease the current tensions around Ukraine and “continue the dialogue.” From Kiev, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, called on the West and the press in particular not to create “panic” assuming that Moscow will invade his country.

In another appearance, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, assured that “if it is going to depend on Russia, there will be no war.” The foreign minister, however, brandished the possibility that the Kremlin could recognize the self-proclaimed rebel republics of Donetsk and Lugansk (Donbass), in eastern Ukraine, as independent states. As it did in 2008 with the Georgian territories of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. But he clarified that such a possibility “must be taken into account in the context of the line of firmness for the West to force Kiev to comply with the Minsk Agreements.”

Moscow has been repeating this mantra since February 2015, when the second and definitive version of that pact was signed to stop the bleeding in Donbass. It was signed by Germany, France, Russia and the Ukraine, the so-called Normandy Quartet or Group, so called because it was born in that region of northern France.

Macron and Putin spoke about this this Friday, and he insisted to his French colleague that “the Minsk package of measures establishes that a direct dialogue must be maintained with Donetsk and Lugansk, and legalize a special autonomous status for Donbass”, aspects in which the Ukrainian authorities see precisely the trap. Attempts to satisfy the separatists can drag on without success.

But Putin considers that the meeting of emissaries of the Normandy Group held on Wednesday in Paris “confirmed a favorable mood for Russia and France to continue working in this format.” It was agreed in the French capital that the priority now is full compliance with the truce.

But Macron wants to go further and repeat a meeting with the same representatives in Berlin in two weeks. The objective is to later convene a summit of leaders of the Normandy Quartet like the one held in Paris in December 2019, but more fruitful because only a partial prisoner exchange was agreed upon. The United States could also participate in it and the main problem to be dealt with would be the interpretation of the Minsk agreements.

dangerous voltage

Lavrov also noted that Kiev “does not control a significant part of its armed units and someone’s nerves can fail, many are prone to militaristic psychosis. Therefore, I do not rule out that someone wants to provoke a war, but Russia does not want it. In addition, he again accused the West of sending weapons to Ukraine and pushing it into a conflict. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, however, declared that “there are no events or actions of a military nature on the border with Russia.”

Alluding to the response that Moscow received from Washington on Wednesday about the “security guarantees” that Russia demands from the West, Lavrov explained that his country is preparing proposals in the event that an agreement is not reached with the United States, whose Secretary of State , Antony Blinken, rejected that Moscow may have the right of veto to determine which countries can join NATO and which cannot.

“What will we do if the West does not listen to the voice of reason? The president has already spoken about it. If our attempts to agree on mutually acceptable principles to ensure security in Europe fail, we will take retaliatory action.”