Moscow (AFP) – 02/08/2022. 01:24
Macron: The current situation in Europe is “delicate” and calls for everyone to be “responsible”
- French President Emmanuel Macron said he hoped to “de-escalate” the crisis between Russia and the West over Ukraine
- Macron considered that the current situation in Europe is “delicate” and calls for everyone to be “extremely responsible”.
- Russia is massing tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with Ukraine, raising fears of a new invasion of this country
French President Emmanuel Macron expressed his hope that the tension between the two countries would be “reduced”. Russia And the West on Ukraine, at the start of a meeting it held in Moscow, on Monday, with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who praised the French efforts in this regard.
Russia is massing tens of thousands of soldiers on the border with Russia Ukraineraising fears of a new invasion of this country, while Moscow demands to reduce tension with security guarantees that NATO will not expand to the east and withdraw from its surroundings, a demand rejected by the Westerners.
Macron considered that the current situation in Europe is “delicate” and calls for everyone to be “very responsible”, while the two presidents sat at both sides of a very long white table in the Kremlin.
The French president is the first first-ranking Western official to meet the Russian president since tensions escalated in December.
On Tuesday, Macron will travel to Kiev to meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. Next week, it will be German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s turn to make two similar visits after he met US President Joe Biden in Washington.
“The discussion could be the beginning of the path we want to take, which is de-escalation,” Macron said, adding that he wanted “to start building a collectively beneficial response to Russia and the rest of Europe.”
For his part, the Russian President considered that Moscow and Paris have “common concerns about security in Europe”, praising the French “efforts” aimed at “solving the issue of security in Europe”, especially in order to “find a solution to the crisis” in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the meeting between the French and Russian presidents was “very important”, noting that “Macron told Putin that he is coming with ideas for possible options to achieve a détente in Europe.”
But Peskov warned that “the situation is more complicated than expecting a decisive breakthrough in one meeting.”
Macron told reporters on the plane that took him to Moscow that he would work to “find points of disagreement and possible points of agreement.”
In front of Putin, Macron stressed that his position was “coordinated” with his European and American allies, who all rejected the Kremlin’s demands to end the NATO expansion policy, which would close the door to Ukraine’s accession.
