Wed 09 February 2022:
Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron during their marathon meetings a day earlier that Moscow would not escalate the Ukraine situation any further.
Macron’s comments come as the Kremlin denied that he and Putin had reached an agreement on de-escalating the conflict during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday. “In the current situation, Moscow and Paris can’t be reaching any deals”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Macron met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy amid mounting fears of a Russian invasion. Moscow has massed tens of thousands of troops and military hardware near the border with Ukraine, but insists it has no plans to attack its neighbour.
The Kremlin wants guarantees from Western powers that NATO will not accept Ukraine and other former Soviet nations as members, and that the organisation will halt weapon deployments and roll back its forces from eastern Europe — demands the US and NATO reject as nonstarters.
Macron said he believed steps can be taken to de-escalate the crisis and called on all sides to stay calm. Both Putin and Zelenskyy had told him they were committed to the principles of a 2014 peace agreement, he said, adding that this deal, known as the Minsk accords, offered a path to resolving their continuing disputes.
“This shared determination is the only way allowing us to create peace, the only way to create a viable political solution,” Macron told a joint news conference with Zelenskyy.
“Calm … is essential from all parties in words and in deeds,” Macron said, praising Zelenskyy for “the sangfroid that you are showing, and which the Ukrainian people are showing, in the face of military pressure on your borders and on your country”.
“We cannot resolve this crisis in a few hours of talks,” he said. “It will be the days and the weeks and the months to come that will allow us to progress.”
Zelenskyy, for his part, made clear he was sceptical of any assurances Macron may have received from Putin.
“I do not really trust words, I believe that every politician can be transparent by taking concrete steps,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Zelenskyy said he hoped a meeting of high-ranking officials on Thursday in Berlin would pave the way for a summit with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany – the so-called Normandy format – aimed at reviving the stalled peace plan for Kyiv’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists.
France and Germany organized the Normandy format talks between Russia and Ukraine in 2015, which helped cease large-scale hostilities in eastern Ukraine, but the conflict has remained simmering ever since.
While Western countries have united to support Ukraine, they are divided on the prospect of conflict. Officials in France have acknowledged that they believe Washington has exaggerated the threat, and Kyiv has also downplayed the likelihood of a large-scale invasion.
When asked whether Russia would invade in an interview with CNN, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg stated, “There’s no certainty but what we see is a continued military buildup with more and more forces … The warning time is going down and the risk of an attack is going up.”
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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