French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Moscow on Monday to meet with Vladimir Putin, opening another busy diplomatic week aimed at moving towards a de-escalation in the Russian-Western crisis over Ukraine.
Tens of thousands of Russian soldiers are still camped on the borders of their pro-Western neighbor, raising fears of a new invasion. Russia demands again and again that NATO leave its neighborhood as a guarantee of its security with a view to appeasement.
Mr Macron will be the first high-profile Western leader to meet the Russian president since tensions rose in December. The next day, he will go to see Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
At the same time, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be in Washington on Monday with US President Joe Biden, while his Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, will be in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the French president’s visit was “very important”.
“Macron told Putin that he comes with ideas in the quest for detente”, but “the situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs after a single meeting”, he added.
The French head of state, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is expected in the Kremlin after 2:00 p.m. GMT for several hours of talks, followed by a press conference with Mr. Putin.
“Legitimate” Russian security
“The intensity of the dialogue that we have had with Russia and this visit to Moscow are likely to prevent” an armed conflict, had assured the day before in the columns of the Journal du Dimanche Emmanuel Macron, saying he wanted to discuss “the terms of the de-escalation “.
Emphasizing that the “security and sovereignty” of Ukraine and Europe should not be subject to any compromise, he nevertheless deemed it “legitimate for Russia to raise the question of its own security”.
Moscow demands a military withdrawal of NATO from Eastern Europe and an end to the policy of enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance.
So many demands rejected by the West, who in return offer discussions on Russian concerns, gestures of confidence such as reciprocal visits to military sites, or even disarmament measures. Proposals deemed “secondary” by Moscow.
Ukraine, through its Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, has set its own red lines: “No concessions on territorial integrity”, and “a lasting withdrawal of Russian forces from the Ukrainian border and occupied territories “.
Russia already invaded part of Ukraine in 2014, the Crimean peninsula, after a pro-Western revolution in Kiev. Since the same year, pro-Russian separatists, supported by Moscow, have also been at war with the Ukrainian army in the east of the country.
Peace agreements, negotiated under Franco-German mediation, made it possible to freeze the front, but the political settlement is at a standstill. Mr. Macron wants to relaunch this process.
no apocalypse
In order to coordinate the Western position, the French president spoke with Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and the leaders of the three Baltic countries.
For his part, the German Olaf Scholz, accused of being lukewarm in his support for Ukraine, will meet the tenant of the White House in Washington on Monday.
Britain’s foreign and defense ministers are due to visit Moscow this week.
For its part, the United States continues to send military reinforcements to Europe.
US intelligence has estimated that Russia already has 70% of the capability needed for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Especially since Moscow is also deploying an undetermined number of men, tanks and planes to Belarus, Russia’s ally and neighbor of Ukraine, for major military exercises.
Placing himself once again at odds with the urgency expressed by Washington, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy called for not listening to “apocalyptic” predictions, while congratulating himself on having a “powerful army” and “unprecedented international support”.