The French Foreign Ministry spoke about Macron’s calls to Putin at the request of Zelensky

French President Emmanuel Macron calls Russian President Vladimir Putin at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told in an interview with RTVI, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Claire Legendre.

“Mr Macron calls President Putin mainly at the request of the President [Украины Владимира] Zelensky, and always in coordination with our allies to maintain a channel for dialogue. Why is he doing this? Because our assessment is very simple: we can clearly see that today the conversation is going through weapons, the time for negotiations has not yet come, ”Legendre said.

According to her, then Ukraine will decide that the moment for negotiations to achieve the return of its territorial integrity has come. “That’s why we consider it useful to maintain this channel for dialogue,” the spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry explained.

Russia, in her opinion, does not want to start “meaningful negotiations”, but France wants to keep the channel of communication open. Also important is the fact that Paris is trying to “promote certain issues raised by the Ukrainians,” Legendre added.

Since the start of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly advocated negotiations with the Russian authorities. Also, at the initiative of the French side, telephone conversations between the leaders of the states took place more than once. For example, on August 19, the heads of state discussed the military conflict in Ukraine, nuclear safety at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, and preparations for an IAEA mission to the plant.

He also spoke about the need to step up diplomatic efforts so that the parties to the conflict in Ukraine hold talks. At the same time, Macron stressed that this process should begin on Kyiv’s terms.

In December 2022, the Kremlin answered in the negative to the question whether Putin was going to congratulate the French leader on his birthday or call him on other issues. At the same time, in early December, Macron claimed that he continued to maintain direct contacts with Putin. Then he stressed that the only way to resolve the situation in Ukraine are negotiations. At the Russian Foreign Ministry declaredthat the proposals of the French leader on security guarantees are “nothing new, it’s going in circles.” The dialogue between the two presidents will be continued if necessary, spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said at the end of January.