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6:52 p.m. : Emmanuel Macron will also have a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, on Friday. The President of the French Republic spoke alongside the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, during a joint press conference.
KAY NIETFELD / POOL / AFP
6:47 p.m. : A meeting of diplomatic advisers, for example, is scheduled for tomorrow in Paris in the presence of France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia. This format is named “Normandy” in reference to an informal meeting that took place in June 2014 in Ouistreham, during the D-Day celebrations. The four countries then tackled the issue of the conflict in Donbass.
6:46 p.m. : “We are preparing in parallel [du dialogue] the common reaction and the response in the event of aggression. If there should be an agression [de la Russie en Ukraine], the response will be there and the cost will be very high.”
Emmanuel Macron, however, recalled that the dialogue was continuing in several ways: between the United States and Russia, between Russia and NATO, within the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), in the so-called “Normandy” format, and between the EU and Russia.
6:37 p.m. : Emmanuel Macron announces that he will meet with Vladimir Putin on Friday by telephone.
6:43 p.m. : “If there were to be an assault [de la Russie en Ukraine], the response will be there and the cost will be very high”, warned Emmanuel Macron, after an interview in Berlin with the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz.
6:26 p.m. : In response to the situation on the Ukrainian border, the United States has placed up to 8,500 military personnel on alert, and they could be ready in five days to reinforce the rapid reaction force of the military alliance, consisting of 40,000 soldiers. Moscow denounces this warning. For the spokesperson for the Russian presidency, Dmitri Peskov, the United States is thus provoking a new “escalation of tensions”.
4:27 p.m. : If Moscow denies any plans to invade Ukraine, the Kremlin insists on written guarantees for its security, including the promise that Kiev will not join NATO. “I believe that all of Russia’s fears can be allayed, and that we could find a path to mutual security through patient and principled diplomacy, as long as President Putin avoids the trap of launching a terrible war”, said Boris Johnson.
6:01 p.m. : “We have agreed to respond to any attack by Ukraine in unison by imposing coordinated and severe economic sanctions…against Russia.”
Western leaders have agreed to respond with one voice to a possible “attack” of Ukraine by Russia, by imposing sanctions of unprecedented severity on Moscow.
12:47 : “The organizers of the gang were preparing a series of armed attacks against infrastructure”, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said in a statement, saying the group “was coordinated” by “Russian special services”. The two organizers, including a Russian, were arrested, said the SBU, whose agents seized “an explosive device, small arms and ammunition”.
12:46 p.m. : Ukraine claims to have dismantled a group acting on the orders of Moscow and which was preparing armed attacks to “destabilize” the country.
07:11 : It’s 6 o’clock, so it’s time for the first update on the day’s news.
The leaders of the United States and several European countries – including Germany and France – affirmed during a videoconference their support “without reservation” to Ukraine. They promise “very serious consequences” to Russia in case of “aggression” against this country.
Uniformed soldiers announced on public television that they had seized power in Burkina Faso and ousted President Marc Roch Christian Kaboré from power.
• The Council of State has suspended the government decree prohibiting the sale of the flower and the hemp leaf loaded with CBD, the non-psychotropic molecule of cannabis. The court must now rule on the merits of the decree.
A stampede left eight dead, including a child, and around 50 injured last night outside a stadium in Yaoundé, before an African Cup of Nations match between Cameroon and the Comoros, according to the authorities.