After the French president has been in Ukraine, the two will be called again.
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Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin met the press on Monday night after a five-hour meeting in Moscow, where they have discussed the Ukraine crisis.
It was not expected that the two top managers would present any major agreement on Monday night, but there was still great excitement about what signals they would send.
Putin was first out. He strongly opposed NATO, reiterating Russia’s demands for no NATO enlargement and military withdrawal in Eastern Europe.
– The next few days will be crucial, Macron says at the press conference.
– We have the desire to work together to guarantee a new order of stability and security in Europe, he continues.
The French president points out that the most important thing is to prevent the situation from escalating. Macron says they have had a discussion that makes it possible to start a series of proposals, and he also said that he had come up with proposals for “concrete security guarantees”. According to France24, Putin says that several of the ideas and proposals may be the basis for “further joint steps”.
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1 of 2Photo: SPUTNIK / Reuters
–Will be talking on the phone again soon
Macron will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj already on Tuesday – and then Macron and Putin will be called again.
– The next weeks and days will consist of contact that we will intensify, Macron says at the press conference.
The French president is investing a lot of political capital in the summit with the Russian president in Moscow, which takes place barely three months before the French presidential election.
- What’s the latest news on an invasion? US intelligence claimed this weekend that Russia has placed several battalions at the border with Ukraine and that a possible invasion could take place already this month. Russia denies plans to invade its neighbor, but demands that NATO promise never to admit Ukraine as a full member – a demand the alliance rejects.
Macron and Putin have already talked on the phone three times in recent days, but it is unclear whether the talks have led to anything.
Macron has tried to build a personal relationship with Putin and has invited the Russian president to both the Palace of Versailles and his own summer residence.
It was French and German mediation that contributed to the Minsk agreement from 2015, which was to ensure a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine after Russia annexed Crimea.
It was also in Paris that Ukrainian and Russian envoys met on January 26, to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine and follow-up to the Minsk agreement.
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SNOW COVER: VG visited the trenches on the Ukrainian side in early February. Prior to the meeting, Macron – who is often accused of acting arbitrarily – consulted with other Western leaders, such as Britain’s Boris Johnson and the United States’ Joe Biden.
He also spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Russia describes the meeting between Putin and Macron as “very important”, but lowered expectations in advance.
– The situation is too complex to expect significant breakthroughs during one meeting, says Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov according to NTB.
Hectic meeting activities
Following the meeting with Putin, Macron will travel to Kiev on Tuesday.
He is not alone in traveling east: Hungary’s prime minister visited the Kremlin last week. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet with Putin next week.
Scholtz meets President Joe Biden in the White House on Monday night.
On Monday, the foreign ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, France and Germany will be in Kiev.
But Putin has also been abroad: On the opening day of the Olympics, he met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, a summit that resulted in a comprehensive joint statement.
Putin secured backing for his opposition to any NATO enlargement. The two countries also agree to expand cooperation and collaboration, not least in the energy sector.
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