The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is “ready to talk” with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin spokesman told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti this Sunday.
“[Macron) said he was ready to talk to Putin. It is probably very important to remember what the President said during the ‘Direct Line'[annual interview with Putin]. He also expressed the fact that he was ready to talk to Macron”[Macron)dissequeestavaprontoparafalarcomPutinÉprovavelmentemuitoimportanterecordaroqueoPresidentedissedurantea’LinhaDireta'[entrevistaanualaPutin)EletambémexpressouofactodeestarprontoparadialogarcomMacron”explained Dmitry Peskov.
The spokesperson was referring to a statement by Emmanuel Macron on Friday morning in Brussels, at the end of the summit at which the European Union reached an agreement to unlock a loan of 90 billion euros to support Ukraine.
“I think it will be useful to talk to Vladimir Putin again,” the French president told the press. “I see that there are people who talk to Vladimir Putin,” he added, referring to the North American President, Donald Trump, who resumed dialogue with his Russian counterpart.
“Therefore, I think that we, Europeans and Ukrainians, are interested in finding the framework to resume this discussion in an appropriate way. Otherwise, we will discuss among ourselves with negotiators who will discuss with the Russians alone, which is not ideal”, insisted Macron.
Donald Trump’s emissaries are carrying out a series of separate negotiations, with Moscow on the one hand, and with the Ukrainians and Europeans on the other, in the hope of reaching an agreement on the conflict in Ukraine.
Ukrainian, European and North American negotiators are meeting this weekend in Miami, Florida, for these discussions led by Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of the President of the United States.
The Russian emissary, Kirill Dmitriev, has also been in Miami since Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday called on Washington to increase pressure on Moscow, with a view to reaching an agreement to end the conflict triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.