French President Emmanuel Macron has said he will soon speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin, reports “France Press”.
He expressed the hope that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine “are still possible”.
During an official visit to Washington, Macron noticed this he plans to speak with his Russian counterpart “in the next few days”.
“I want to make this state visit first and have a deep discussion with President Biden and our teams together,” he said in an ABC television interview that aired shortly before Macron was welcomed into the White House by the US president.
Macron has repeatedly had telephone conversations with Putin, which drew the ire of the West for the incursion of Russian forces into neighboring Ukraine in February.
“My conviction and my pragmatic approach is to say that I have to engage with current leaders and whoever is in charge of the country,” Macron noted, adding: “If we believe in national sovereignty, we cannot claim that regime change is a precondition for starting negotiations.”
The French president expressed optimism about the progress of Ukrainian resistance against Russian forces, but warned that a long and difficult war awaits us.
Ukraine is clearly conducting a very positive counter-offensive, but it’s probably too early to say it’s winning the war, he stressed.
According to him, everything a “sustainable” peace can still be achievedto end the conflict.
I think it is still possible to return to negotiations, Macron said.
As for whether Putin can be a loyal and reliable participant in the peace talks, the French leader said it was too early to make such an assessment.
If I knew the answer, I’d be at the negotiating table with him, he stressed.
Makro, however, made that clear in his opinion “a good peace is not a peace that will be forced on Ukrainians by others.”
Meanwhile, and contrary to what the French president said, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian president’s schedule does not include a phone call with Macron.
