Meeting between Macron and Putin on Ukraine is “very important” but there will be little progress, warns the Kremlin

The Russian government considered “very important” the meeting that will take place this Monday in Moscow between the French and Russian presidents, although it estimates that there will be little progress in view of a de-escalation of the crisis around Ukraine.

“The situation is too complex to expect decisive progress after a single meeting,” said Dmitri Peskov, spokesman for the Kremlin, despite the fact that “Macron manifested to Putin who came with ideas with a view to a relaxation ”.

LOOK: The United States warns that Russia would take Kiev in just 48 hours if it invades Ukraine

french president Emmanuel Macron meets on Monday in Moscow with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putinand the German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington with the US president Joe Biden to try to reduce the tension in the crisis around Ukraine.

In parallel, the German, Czech, Slovak and Austrian foreign ministers travel to Kiev.

• “We prepare for the worst”: Civilians with wooden rifles learn to defend Kiev, the capital of Ukraine
• US intelligence says Russia is preparing a full invasion of Ukraine
• Ukraine Tension: Russian Nuclear-Capable Bombers Patrol Belarus

Tens of thousands of soldiers are deployed on the border with Ukraine, raising fears of a military incursion. But Moscow denies any intention to invade and affirms that it is doing so for its security, while claiming that the NATO stop expanding on your borders.

The French president, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), will visit Moscow on Monday and Kiev on Tuesday to meet with President Volodimir Zelensky.

“The intensity of the dialogue we have had with Russia and this visit to Moscow are to prevent” an armed conflict, estimated Macron in an interview with the Journal Du Dimanche, insisting that he wants to approach the crisis “in terms of de-escalation”.

LOOK: A Russian invasion of Ukraine would kill 50,000 civilians in two days, experts say

For the Russian government, the meeting between the two leaders is “very important”, although it predicts that there will be little progress.

For the French president, this trip is also a political bet a few months before the presidential elections.

“A high price”

Russia accuses the West, especially Washington and the NATOto ignore your security concerns.

Moscow is seeking guarantees from the Atlantic Alliance that Ukraine will not join the group and wants the bloc to withdraw its forces from Eastern European member states.

The Westerners reject these demands and propose, to calm Russian concerns, gestures of trust such as reciprocal visits to military installations or disarmament measures. A “positive” but “secondary” measure, thinks Moscow.

Also on Monday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will meet US President Joe Biden in Washington.

“We are working hard to send a clear message to Russia that it will have to pay a high price if it intervenes in Ukraine”Scholz told the Washington Post in an interview.

For its part, the United States continues to send military reinforcements to Europe.

The US intelligence service estimated that Russia already has 70% of the equipment needed for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

This could take the capital Kiev in 48 hours, in an operation that could kill up to 50,000 civilians, 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers and 10,000 Russian soldiers, unleashing a wave of up to five million refugees, intelligence officials added.

“Apocalyptic predictions”

In Ukrainehowever, the authorities relativized Washington’s forecasts.

The foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, urged not to believe in “apocalyptic predictions”. “Different capitals have different scenarios, but Ukraine is ready for any development,” she said on Twitter.

And a Kiev presidential adviser said the chances of a diplomatic solution are “substantially greater than the threat of further escalation.”

Russia already invaded a part of Ukraine in 2014, when it annexed the peninsula of crimea after the pro-Western uprising in Kiev. International sanctions against Moscow had no effect on the Kremlin line.

Since 2014, pro-Russian separatists, supported by Moscow, have been fighting the Ukrainian army in the east of the country. Several peace agreements, sponsored by Paris and Berlin, allowed the fighting to cease, but the political resolution of the conflict is still pending.

_______________________________

• The threats of anti-vaccines to a COVID-19 patient who they accuse of being an actor who faked the disease
• He was kidnapped at 16 and released at 58: the story of the man who spent his entire life in captivity
• Jacinda Ardern postpones her wedding due to coronavirus outbreak in New Zealand
• Woman refused to wear a mask on Miami-London flight; the pilot’s response will surprise you
• They run over a reporter in full live broadcast: “my whole life passed before my eyes”

Source: Elcomercio

Deshawn