Franch Live: Macron begins talks with Putin in Moscow, hoping to 'avoid war'

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Franch Live: Macron begins talks with Putin in Moscow, hoping to 'avoid war'

A number of summit meetings are being held on Monday to try to find a peaceful solution to the crisis over Ukraine. French President Emmanuel Macron is holding high-stakes talks with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Washington to meet Joe Biden. Follow the latest developments live.

Europe facing ‘most dangerous moment’ since Cold War: top EU diplomat

Europe is facing its most serious security threat since the Cold War, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Monday, though he stressed a diplomatic solution with Russia over Ukraine remains “possible.”

“We are living, to my understanding, the most dangerous moment for security in Europe after the end of the Cold War,” Borrell told a joint news conference in Washington with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“Nobody masses 140,000 soldiers heavily armed in the border of a country” without it representing “a strong threat,” he said.

Questioned about US warnings of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, Blinken denied Washington’s stance was alarmist, saying: “This is not alarmism. This is simply the facts.”

US, EU coordinating to protect energy supplies from potential Ukraine-related shocks

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday said the United States and the European Union are working to protect European energy supplies against shocks stemming from the Ukraine crisis.

“We’re coordinating with our allies and partners, with the energy sector stakeholders, including on how best to share energy reserves in the event that Russia turns off the spigot or initiates a conflict that disrupts the flow of gas through Ukraine,” Blinken told a State Department briefing with EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell.

Macron-Putin talks begin in Moscow

Talks between the French and Russian presidents have kicked off at the Kremlin.

In opening remarks, Macron told his Russian host he hoped the talks would lead to a "useful response" to the standoff over Ukraine.

"A useful response is a response that of course allows us to avoid war and to build bricks of trust, stability, visibility," said the French president.

For his part, Putin acknoweldged France's efforts at solving the "security crisis" in Europe.

"I see how much effort the current French leadership is making to resolve the issue of security in Europe (...) namely, to resolve the crisis in the southeast of Ukraine," the Russian leader said.
Macron-Putin talks hold promise of progress if not ‘breakthrough’ on Ukraine

Germany to boost troops in Lithuania

Germany will send up to 350 more soldiers to Lithuania to help bolster the NATO alliance's eastern flank, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht has announced.

"We are therefore strengthening our troop contribution on NATO's eastern flank and sending a clear sign of our resolve to our allies," Lambrecht said, adding that the soldiers will be deployed "within a few days".

Germany, which has been criticised by some eastern EU members for failing to stand up to Russia, currently has 500 soldiers stationed as part of NATO forces in Lithuania.

Macron 'reasonably optimistic' ahead of Putin talks

French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed guarded optimism after landing in Moscow for talks this evening with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

"I'm reasonably optimistic but I don't believe in spontaneous miracles," Macron told reporters shortly after landing in the Russian capital.

The French and Russian presidents are expected to touch on a range of issues during their talks at the Kremlin, on top of the standoff over Ukraine.

"The geopolitical objective of Russia today is clearly not Ukraine, but to clarify the rules of cohabitation with NATO and the EU,” Macron told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper ahead of his trip.

"We will not obtain unilateral gestures, but it is essential to prevent a deterioration of the situation before building mechanisms and reciprocal gestures of trust," he said of his hopes for his talks with Putin.
Analysis: In diplomatic push, Macron buoyed by French presidency of EU

UK's PM offers Russia reassurance about NATO

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to offer Russia reassurance about NATO's role because it is a defensive alliance and any European democracies should be able to join, his spokesman said on Monday.

Russia, which seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, is demanding security guarantees including a promise NATO will never admit Ukraine.

"Russia has expressed concerns about potential NATO aggression, but we have been clear that those concerns are fundamentally unfounded as NATO is a defensive alliance at its heart," Johnson's spokesman said.

"But we do want to work with Russia to provide diplomatic reassurance on that front. It is not about making concessions as the PM and other western leaders have said all European democracies have a right to join NATO."

EU talking to other suppliers amid concern over Russian gas flows

The European Union is talking to the United States and other suppliers about increasing gas deliveries to Europe, amid concerns over supply from Russia, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

"We are building a partnership for energy security with the United States, which is primarily about more LNG gas supplies. We are talking to other gas suppliers, for example Norway, about increasing their supplies to Europe," von dey Leyen told a conference organised by German media der Tagesspiegel, die Zeit, Handelsblatt and Wirtschaftswoche.

Escalating tensions between the West and Moscow over Ukraine have raised concerns about Russian gas flows to Europe, with gas prices already soaring in recent months amid factors including lower-than-expected imports from Russia.

12:05pm Paris time

Will Macron be able to defuse Ukraine crisis?

"There's always a chance," answers FRANCE 24's International Affairs Commentator Douglas Herbert. "In parallel with all the military movements, the deployments of the US, the sending of weapons and all the brinkmanship, there is a behind-the-scenes feverish flurry of efforts to find some sort of diplomatic way out of this Ukraine crisis."

"From the start of his presidency, Macron's signature style has been to reach out to adversaries, to have dialogue. He believes talking is better than going to war. But will Putin even listen to him? Putin does in a sense respect Macron, even if he sharply disagrees with him. But that doesn't mean he's going to concede anything in the end."

Macron has 'three main points to present to Putin'

"French President Emmanuel Macron wants to de-escalate the crisis around Ukraine's borders. He would like to see the Russian President agree to reduce troop numbers in the region. And he would like to re-start the stalled negotiations called the Minsk Agreement, which was set up eight years ago after the first crisis began in the Ukraine after the occupation of Crimea," reports FRANCE 24's Nick Holdsworth from Moscow.

Holdsworth says Macron would also like to make progress on the Normandy-format talks that were held in Paris a couple of weeks ago. "He would also like to start talking with Putin about setting the stage for a new European security deal that takes into account Putin's concerns whilst also reinforcing the red lines that the US and NATO have drawn up and that Macron agrees with."

Kremlin expects no ‘decisive breakthroughs’ from Macron-Putin talks

Russia expects no decisive breakthrough from Monday's talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, but expects that Macron will propose ways to ease tensions in Europe, the Kremlin said. The Ukraine crisis is set to dominate the talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a briefing.

Macron is expected to seek commitments from Putin to dial down the tensions.

"The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting," Peskov said.

But he said Russia was aware of certain ideas for lowering tensions that Macron had spoken about before and planned to share with Putin.

Peskov said it was not possible to speak of a lull in tensions while Western governments continued to talk about a looming Russian attack on Ukraine. He said Moscow had heard nothing new in recent days on the security guarantees it is requesting, and "our Western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic”.

Emmanuel Macron expected in the Kremlin and Olaf Scholz in Washington

President Emmanuel Macron of France, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, is expected in Moscow at 4pm on Monday. His meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to last into the evening. It will end with a joint press conference, according to the Elysée. He will then travel to Kyiv on Tuesday to spearhead efforts to de-escalate the crisis.

The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, is travelling to Washington to meet US President Joe Biden.

"We worked hard to send a clear message to Russia that it will have a high price if they were to intervene into Ukraine," Scholz told the Washington Post in an interview ahead of his meeting.

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