![]() ![]() "Putin tells his people he's fighting for Russia's sovereignty. ![]() "Our appraisal of the situation is united, as is our position on this: Any further attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is unacceptable and will draw wide-reaching consequences for Russia - politically, economically and geo-strategically," Scholz said.Greene describes the outcome of the talks as "remarkable" because the deals were so "one-sided" - with Russia offering raw exports but seeing little Chinese investment to Russia in return. Macron and Scholz afterwards said their "common goal is to prevent war in Europe" and Scholz, who has been criticised as being too reluctant to threaten painful sanctions on Russia if it attacks, said they were united in preparing to respond. Zelenskyy said he hoped the talks would move the possibility of a full-scale summit between the leaders of the four countries closer.Īfter meeting with Zelenskyy, Macron flew onto Berlin to meet with Germany's leader Olaf Scholz, who has just returned from Washington, where he met with President Joe Biden on Monday and discussed the crisis. It is not clear how that has changed, but Macron and Zelenskyy both spoke positively about Thursday's talks, saying they hoped they would make progress. The talks seek to unblock efforts to implement the 'Minsk agreement', which ended large-scale fighting in 2015 between Ukraine's government and the Russian-controlled rebels but has been largely deadlocked since. Third, the “opening of a dialogue on strategic issues,” a phrase that refers to troop and weapon deployments, and wider questions of NATO’s relationship with Moscow.īoth men emphasised the importance of talks planned this Thursday in the so-called 'Normandy' group, that is mediated by France and Germany to try to end Ukraine's conflict with Russian-backed separatists in the country. But French officials afterwards said Putin and Macron had agreed to “the initiation of a broader dialogue” on three key points: first, Russia’s military posture and second, the long-running ‘Normandy Format’ negotiations aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine between government and Russian-backed separatists in the east. Putin afterwards told a press conference that Macron had brought “a range of ideas," which he said it was too early to talk about publicly, but that Putin said he considered “possible as the basis for our next steps.” Putin and Macron’s marathon talks in the Kremlin Monday had ended with a glimmer of hope the Russian leader is ready to accept diplomacy. But Moscow and Minsk both insist the troops are there just for war games. Russia has been pouring trainloads of troops into Belarus amid its broader build up near Ukraine, alarming Western countries which fear they could be used as a cover for an attack. If true, the commitment not to launch new military action could be an important sign may be closer to taking Western diplomatic offers as a road out of the crisis, where the Russian build up near Ukraine has sparked fears of invasion. and that objective for me has been fulfilled,” Macron told reporters on the plane flying to Kyiv, according to AFP. “For me it was about arranging things to prevent an escalation and open up new avenues. Macron flew to Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where during a joint press conference afterwards he said Putin had told him he would "not be the instigator of any escalation." He said "no one was naive" but that he believed some progress had been made. Following the talks, French officials said Putin had committed to not launch any new "military initiatives" and promised the thousands of Russian troops massed in Belarus to the north of Ukraine would leave after exercises ended there this month. Macron said he obtained the assurances during the five hours of talks he held with Putin in the Kremlin in Moscow on Monday night. ![]() KYIV - France's President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured him there would be no "escalation or deterioration" of the crisis around Ukraine, as French officials said there were signs Putin was moving towards de-escalation. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |