Brussels (AFP) 02/09/2022 09:16
Borrell: There is a willingness to sit at the negotiating table and negotiate
- Borrell: Macron’s visit to Russia was a “positive signal” and a “good initiative”
- Moscow mustered 70 percent of the forces it would need to carry out a large-scale incursion
- Borrell: There is hope not to enter into a military confrontation
Consider the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the European Union Josep Borrell Tuesday that the French President’s visit Emmanuel Macron To Russia, it brought with it an “element of détente” in the crisis between the West and Moscow over Ukraine, but it did not achieve any “miracle”.
“As long as there is a willingness to sit at the negotiating table and engage in dialogue, I think there will be hope not to engage in a military confrontation,” Borrell told reporters at the end of his visit to Washington.
He added that Macron’s visit to Russia on Monday and his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin constituted a “positive signal” and a “good initiative”, saying, “I think it constitutes an element of release.”
Russia has massed more than 100,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, prompting accusations from the United States and European countries that it is preparing to invade it.
Russia has denied that it is planning to invade its neighbor, but the United States has warned that Moscow mustered 70 percent of the forces it would need to carry out a large-scale incursion.
But the military escalation was accompanied by intense diplomacy to avoid a war, as Borrell described the situation earlier as the most dangerous for Europe since the end of the Cold War.
After Macron’s meeting with Putin, the French president said he saw “concrete” solutions to the crisis, and had received assurances from the Russian president that there would be no further escalation.
But Borrell, despite his optimism, said the problem “has not yet been resolved”.
“President Macron’s visit to Moscow was important, but it did not achieve a miracle,” he added, with no indications of de-escalation by Russia.
