![]() “For several weeks, I’ve been reading or hearing senior officials announcing imminent operations from week to week,” he told the French newsweekly. ![]() On the eve of his trip to Moscow, he took a swipe at the strong and repeated warnings coming out of Washington. Over the weekend, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, Macron expressed confidence in one-on-one talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts, which will be held with only interpreters present, to help de-escalate tensions along the Ukrainian border. Macron has made clear the differences of opinion even within the Western alliance over how to deal with the situation in Russia and Ukraine. President Joe Biden in Washington on Monday. Her successor, Olaf Scholz, met with U.S. And he is stepping up to fill the shoes of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who performed a similar role when Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. France assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union at the start of the year, giving him some diplomatic legitimacy to speak for Europe. Now, Macron is putting his theory to the test in face-to-face meetings with first Putin and then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Tuesday. The French president has spent much of his time since taking office five years ago preaching greater European strategic autonomy, which he has variously described as taking a stronger role in foreign affairs or investing in a European military force. Visits to Moscow by the British foreign and defence secretaries are also expected at the end of this week.As French President Emmanuel Macron sat down with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Monday, he put himself forward as the latest answer to Henry Kissinger’s supposed question about who to call in Europe in the event of a crisis. While Chancellor Scholz is in Washington, his foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, was in Kyiv along with her Czech, Slovak and Austrian counterparts for a two-day visit.Ĭhancellor Scholz himself will be in Moscow and Kyiv next week for talks with Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky. Mr Biden has reacted to the Russian troop build-up by offering 3,000 American forces to bolster NATO’s eastern flank, with a batch of the troops arriving in Poland on Sunday.īritain said Monday that 350 more British troops would be sent to the Polish border and Germany announced that another 350 of its soldiers would go to Lithuania. “We are close allies and we act in a co-ordinated and united way, when it comes to responding to the current crises,” Scholz told reporters earlier Monday, saying Russia would pay “a very high price” if it attacks Ukraine. “We’re working in lock-step to further deter Russian aggression in Europe,” Mr Biden said in the White House’s Oval Office. Russia insists it has no plans to attack and has instead put forward its own demands for security guarantees. US officials say Moscow has assembled 110,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and is on track to amass a large enough force - some 150,000 soldiers - for a full-scale invasion by mid-February. ![]() “I promise you,” Mr Biden said, “we will bring an end to it.” “If Russia invades - that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again - then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Mr Biden told a joint White House news conference with Scholz, following bilateral talks in the Oval Office. Mr Biden made a categorical vow at the talks to shut down the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if Moscow launches an invasion. The meeting in Moscow came at the start of a week of intense diplomacy over the Ukraine crisis, with US President Joe Biden also hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington on Monday. “It is not us who are moving towards NATO’s borders,” he said, in reference to alliance deployments in eastern Europe. Mr Putin again denied that Russia was acting aggressively, despite Western fears of a possible invasion of Ukraine after Russia amassed tens of thousands of its troops on its borders. French President Emmanuel Macron meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |