Macron sees path to ease Russia crisis

In Kiev, the French leader says Putin told him that Russia ‘would not be the source of an escalation’

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday he saw a path forward on easing tensions with Russia over Ukraine, after conducting an urgent round of shuttle diplomacy between Moscow and Kiev.

Mr. Macron held talks with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev a day after a five-hour meeting at the Kremlin with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as the West scrambles to defuse fears Moscow could invade its ex-Soviet neighbour.

The French leader said he now saw the “possibility” for talks involving Moscow and Kiev over the festering conflict in the east of the country to move forward, and “concrete, practical solutions” to lower tensions between Russia and the West.

“We cannot underestimate the moment of tension that we are living through,” Mr. Macron said at a joint press conference after meeting Mr. Zelensky.

“We cannot resolve this crisis in a few hours of talks,” he said. “It will be the day and the weeks and the months to come that will allow us to progress.”

Summit talks

Mr. Macron — who now heads to Berlin for talks with the leaders of Germany and Poland — said Mr. Putin had told him that Russia “would not be the source of an escalation”, in the situation, despite amassing more than 1,00,000 troops and military hardware on Ukraine’s border. Mr. Zelensky said he hoped a meeting of high-ranking officials on Thursday in Berlin could pave the way for a summit with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany aimed at reviving the stalled peace plan for Kiev’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists.

Mr. Putin — who has demanded sweeping security guarantees from NATO and the United States — said after his talks with Mr. Macron that Moscow would “do everything to find compromises that suit everyone”.

He said several proposals put forward by Mr. Macron could “form a basis for further steps” on easing the crisis over Ukraine, but did not give any details.

French proposals

At the same time as sending its military hardware to Ukraine’s borders, Mr. Putin has issued demands the West says are unacceptable, including barring Ukraine from joining NATO and rolling back alliance forces in eastern Europe.

The French presidency said Mr. Macron’s counter proposals included an engagement from both sides not to take any new military action, the launching of a strategic dialogue and efforts to revive the peace process for Ukraine’s conflict.

It also said an agreement would ensure the withdrawal of some 30,000 Russian soldiers from Belarus at the end of joint military exercises later this month.

The Kremlin insisted that it never had any intention of leaving the troops permanently on Belarusian territory. The West faces a tough task trying to convince a wary Mr. Zelensky to accept any compromises.

Kiev has laid out three “red lines” that it says it will not cross to find a solution — no compromise over Ukraine’s territorial integrity, no direct talks with the separatists and no interference in its foreign policy.

As Mr. Macron sought a diplomatic solution with Kiev, U.S. President Joe Biden ramped up the pressure on Moscow on Monday by warning he would “end” the controversial new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if tanks rolled into Ukraine. Mr. Biden’s declaration at a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was the bluntest so far on the fate of the massive pipeline, which is complete but has yet to begin funnelling natural gas.

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