French President Macron allowed a meeting with Putin because of Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron will decide after talking about Ukraine with US President Joe Biden whether he should meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Reuters.

“In the coming hours, I will talk with President Biden,” Macron said, adding that, depending on the “progress” in the dialogue with Washington, he does not rule out that he might go on a visit to Russia.

Macron and Putin have spoken on the phone twice in recent days. On January 31, according to the Kremlin’s press service, the presidents exchanged “views on the situation around Ukraine and issues related to providing Russia with long-term, legally secured security guarantees.”

On January 28, the conversation also touched upon the issue of security guarantees. Putin told Macron that the United States and NATO, in their written responses to Russia’s proposals in the field of security guarantees, did not take into account Moscow’s fundamental concerns: the inadmissibility of the expansion of the North Atlantic Alliance to the east, the refusal to deploy strike weapons systems near Russian borders, and the bloc’s return to the positions of 1997.