AA/Tunis
The French President, Emmanuel Macron, and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, agreed during a telephone conversation on Sunday on the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the Ukrainian crisis and “have made firm commitments to carry out all useful actions to avoid escalation, ”announced the Elysée on its official page.
The two Presidents agreed on “the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the current crisis and to do everything to achieve it. For this, intense diplomatic work will be carried out in the coming days and weeks, ”says the Elysée.
The French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Yves Le Drian, will meet his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in the coming days and “several consultations will be conducted in Paris for this purpose”, according to the French presidency.
Macron and Putin have also agreed on the resumption of work within the framework of the Normandy format, on the basis of exchanges and proposals made by Ukraine in recent days.
They agreed to carry out “intense work to allow the holding of a meeting of the trilateral contact group in the coming hours with the objective of obtaining from all the stakeholders a commitment to a ceasefire on the line contact”, according to the same source.
“In order to carry out this work under serious conditions, the two Heads of State have made firm commitments to take all useful actions to avoid escalation, reduce risks and preserve peace”, concludes the Elysée.
– Entretien Macron- Zelensky
Immediately following his meeting with Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron had a telephone exchange with the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the French President “welcomed the coolness of his interlocutor and his determination to prevent escalation”, reads -on on the Elysée website.
“President Zelensky has confirmed his determination not to react to provocations and to respect the ceasefire”, we note once more.
Macron had spoken on Saturday with his Ukrainian counterpart, who said he did not want to “respond to provocations along the line of contact”, according to the Élysée. Volodymyr Zelensky “entrusted him with telling Vladimir Putin Ukraine’s availability for dialogue”, underlined the French presidency.
According to Ukrainian officials, Moscow recently deployed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine, raising fears of a new military offensive once morest its former Soviet neighbor.
Russia has denied any belligerent desire for Ukraine, accusing Western countries of undermining its security by expanding the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) borders.
Only part of the dispatches, which Anadolu Agency broadcasts to its subscribers via the Internal Broadcasting System (HAS), is broadcast on the AA website, in a summarized manner. Please contact us to subscribe.
