According to the Kremlin, Russia “will determine its future reaction” after carefully studying the responses of its rivals.
The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, he complained this Friday before his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, that the West rejected his demands to defuse tensions between Moscow and NATO allies over Ukraine. “The responses of the United States and NATO did not take into account the fundamental concerns of Russia,” the Kremlin said in a statement, in which it reported the conversation between the two leaders.
“The key question was ignored, which is how the United States and its allies foresee […] implement the principle that no one should strengthen your security to the detriment of other countries,” added the Russian presidency. According to the Kremlin, Russia “will determine its future reaction” after having carefully studied the responses of its rivals.
The concentration of Russian troops on the border with Ukraine has raised fears among Westerners that the Kremlin intends to intervene in the former Soviet republic to limit the presence of soldiers of NATO in Eastern Europe. At the moment, the Elysee has not issued a statement about the phone call, but this week Macron had said that he planned to talk to Putin with the idea of ”urging [a Rusia] to dialogue” to clarify Moscow’s intentions regarding Ukraine.
unbalance power
As Macron said in recent days, Russia is behaving as a “power of imbalance” in the region, although he made it clear that he is in favor of dialogue with Moscow to reduce tensions. His relatively conciliatory tone It contrasted with the more strident rhetoric of France’s other NATO allies, such as the United Kingdom and the United States.
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For his part, Putin underlined during his conversation with Macron that Russia wanted continue working on conflict resolution in eastern Ukraine and insisted on the existing format of four-way negotiations (Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France).
An advisory meeting of the leaders of those four countries took place on January 26 in Paris, the first in several months, and another has been called for February. As French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on RTL radio this Friday, “the ball is now in Putin’s court.” “Perhaps [Vladimir Putin] Does he want to be the one who affirms that Russia is a power of imbalance, or is he willing to show a de-escalation?” The minister asked. “It is up to Vladimir Putin to say if he wants a confrontation or a meeting. We are ready for a meeting. But it takes two to do it.”