Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron held telephone talks, during which the French leader called for a “reduction of tension with Ukraine.” This was reported on April 26 by the French media.
In addition, the parties agreed to come up with initiatives regarding the resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Macron also expressed concern about the state of health of the Russian blogger Alexei Navalny, who is now serving a sentence in a colony, writes La Tribune.
Earlier, on April 16, Macron held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Then the representatives of the countries discussed Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the EU. Also at the meeting, Zelensky said that he was ready to discuss the situation in Donbass in the format of the Normandy Four with all the leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Macron and Merkel stressed the importance of the implementation of the Minsk agreements and spoke in favor of continuing work in the “Normandy format”. Also, the Cabinet of Ministers of Germany indicated that the parties discussed the situation on the border of Ukraine with Russia and in Crimea, demanding “a reduction in the reinforcement of troops in order to achieve de-escalation.”
On April 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed Russia’s readiness for meetings in the Normandy format, but indicated that Kiev should not abandon the dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (LPR) People’s Republics. Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko clarified that Kiev refuses to dialogue with Donetsk and Lugansk, thereby not only violating the Minsk agreements, but also the possibility of resolving the situation.
On January 12, in Berlin, negotiations were held between political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Four countries on the Ukrainian settlement. Dmitry Kozak, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration, noted that the meeting was useful, but no final decisions have been made yet.
The so-called Normandy format of negotiations on Ukraine has existed since June 2014. Then, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the landing of allied troops in Normandy, the leaders of Germany, Russia, Ukraine and France for the first time discussed the settlement of the conflict in Donbass.
