At the start of his meeting in the Kremlin with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he hoped to begin a “de-escalation” in the Russian-Western crisis around Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he hoped to begin a “de-escalation” in the Russian-Western crisis around Ukraine, at the start of his meeting in the Kremlin with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. “The discussion can initiate what we need to go towards, which is a de-escalation,” Macron said, adding he wanted to “start building a useful response collectively for Russia and for all the rest of Europe.” According to the French president, this “useful response” aims to “avoid war” between Russia and Ukraine and to “build the elements of confidence, stability, visibility for everyone”.
Emmanuel Macron judged that the current situation in Europe was “critical” and required “to be extremely responsible”. Praising the dialogue conducted since 2019 with Russia, he considered that it was “necessary because it is the only one that makes it possible to build real security and stability for the European continent”.
Russia and France have ‘common concerns about security in Europe’
Vladimir Putin for his part considered that Russia and France had “common concerns about security in Europe”. He praised the “efforts” of Paris to “resolve the problem of security in Europe”, in particular that aimed at “finding a settlement to the crisis” in Ukraine.
The two men began their meeting in the Kremlin seated on either side of a long white table, a format that Vladimir Putin has adopted recently when meeting foreign dignitaries, due to the pandemic. Emmanuel Macron’s visit to Moscow comes amid rising tensions between Westerners and Russia, accused of having massed tens of thousands of troops on the Ukrainian border in preparation for an invasion.
The French president is the first high-profile Western leader to meet the Russian president since tensions escalated in December. On Tuesday, he will travel to Ukraine for talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
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