Emmanuel Macron meets Vladimir Putin over Ukraine row
- In Reports
- 01:32 PM, Feb 08, 2022
- Myind Staff
Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on the same day when Biden hosted Scholz in the White House.
Russian President Vladimir Putin described Monday’s talks with French President Emmanuel Macron in the Kremlin as useful, substantive and business-like, and said that some of Macron’s ideas could form a basis for further joint steps.
In a joint news conference after the talks, Putin said that a number of Macron’s ideas concerning security were realistic and that the two would talk again once Macron had travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukraine’s leadership.
“A number of his ideas, proposals, which are probably still too early to talk about, I think it is quite possible to make the basis of our further joint steps,” he said.
“We have agreed that after his trip to the Ukrainian capital we will call each other again and exchange views on this matter,” he said as quoted by news agency Reuters.
Macron also said that Putin is ready to engage and referred to Putin’s comment where he said that Russia will work to find compromises that suit everyone.
“President Putin assured me of his readiness to engage. There is no security for the Europeans if there is no security for Russia," Macron said as quoted by news agency AFP.
“President Putin assured me of his readiness to engage in this sense and his desire to maintain stability and the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Macron said after nearly five hours of talks with Putin in the Kremlin.
Putin also said that blaming Russia for the aggression was illogical and clarified that it was not Russia which was moving towards NATO’s borders alluding to the troop deployments in Russia’s neighbourhood.
Macron will head to Ukraine next to meet its president Volodomyr Zelensky. After his visit to Kyiv, he is expected to call the Russian president Vladimir Putin for further discussions.
Image credit: Reuters
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