Kremlin: Macron talks of contacting Putin, but not taken any real steps

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for the Kremlin, has expressed skepticism regarding French President Emmanuel Macron’s readiness to engage in dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Peskov pointed out in a televised interview on Sunday that despite Macron’s previous statements, no real steps have been taken to initiate such communication.

Macron has said in several interviews that he has not ruled out the possibility of restoring dialogue with his Russian counterpart.

“He said earlier that he was ready to communicate with Putin. At the same time, no real steps have been taken in this direction,” Peskov said.

France, on the contrary, has taken a position to support “continuing the war by any means”, Peskov noted.

Given “emerging dynamics in Russian-US relations,” time will tell if the European countries will hold their current position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Peskov emphasized.

The “emerging dynamics” of which Peskov has spoken of is the US's efforts to end the conflict in the Ukraine.

To fulfill his campaign promise, US President Donald Trump established contact with Russia and discussed the possibility of peace in a bilateral negotiation in Riyadh on February 16.

The meeting angered both Ukraine and its European allies as neither were invited to the table to present their views.

The US and Russian diplomats also met in Istanbul on February 27 to discuss the possibility of reestablishing their diplomatic missions.

On the anniversary of the conflict, the US even presented a resolution to the UN General Assembly.

The resolution took a very conciliatory tone towards Russia and did not call the country the original aggressor of the conflict.

On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was in Washington to sign a deal that would give 50 percent of the country’s oil and rare minerals to the US.

The meeting, however, turned into a heated debate after Zelensky indirectly criticized the foreign policy of the US and Trump.

Vice President JD Vance accused Zelensky of being ungrateful and disrespecting the US in the Oval Office.

Russia: US starts to better understand Moscow after talks in Riyadh

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow and Washington agreed to work together on ending the war in Ukraine .

After the debate between Trump and Zelensky, Macron supported Zelensky and said that “There is an aggressor, which is Russia, and an attacked people, which is Ukraine.”

“We must thank all those who helped, and we must respect those who have been fighting since the beginning,” he added.

In response to years of military and political provocations by the US and Western European countries, Russia began its special operations in Ukraine in 2022.

Russia has managed to gain control of a fifth of Ukraine and has been slowly advancing in the east for months.

Ukraine’s military, supported by the US and Western European countries, grapples with manpower shortages and tries to hold onto a chunk of territory in western Russia. 

Russia has demanded an end to the West’s military and political provocations on its borders and Ukraine’s permanent neutrality under any peace deal. Ukraine, on the other hand, has demanded Russia’s withdrawal from the captured lands and wants NATO membership.

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