French President Emmanuel Macron said that the future security architecture in Europe will have to include guarantees for Russia as well.
“We must think about the security architecture in which we will live tomorrow. We are talking, in particular, about the words of President Vladimir Putin that NATO is approaching the borders of Russia, deploying weapons that can threaten it,” he said in an interview with TF1 TV channel.
According to the leader France, Western countries after the end of the special operation will be required to raise the issue of meeting the security needs for each of the parties.
Macron added that the question also remains open, “ which depends on Ukraine. We are talking about the borders of the country. “Ukraine itself should decide on what conditions, how and when to negotiate, and not anyone else,” he answered a journalist’s question about whether the demands of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to return the Crimean peninsula would be legitimate.
“What depends on us is the security of the rest of Europe,” concluded the French leader.
And what about in France itself?
Macron assured that Paris would continue to support Kyiv, but at the same time would never agree to undermine the combat capability of its own army for the sake of supplying weapons for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
“We will never let’s not compromise our army’s ability to defend our own territory and our citizens,” he said. power outages. Earlier, the French grid operator RTE warned of the threat of power outages after the New Year.
“There is no need to panic. Panic does not help, and it is groundless,” Macron said in an interview.
“I tell you with all responsibility that if we all comply with the “energy sobriety” plan (government . – “Gazeta“) and reduce consumption by 10%, we can safely go through the winter period even in the case of very cold December and January, ”the French leader emphasized.
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Conversation with Putin
According to Macron, the next telephone conversation with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin may take place in the near future.
“I plan to talk again with President Putin after a conversation with the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, in particular on the topic of civil nuclear energy,” he said.
“We must continue to help Ukraine, strive to avoid escalation, ensure the safety of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant and prepare contacts for the day when everyone finally sits down at the negotiating table,” the politician concluded.
“I will be happy to speak with Putin”
US President Joe Biden the day before said about readiness to negotiate with Putin if the Russian leader “really shows interest in ending the war in Ukraine.” So far, according to Biden, there are no such intentions.
“The fact is that I have no plans to contact Mr. Putin in the near future. I will choose my words very carefully: I am ready to speak with Putin if he is really interested in finding a way to end the war. He has not done this yet,” Biden said, specifying that his contacts with Putin are possible only in consultation with NATO.
“I will be happy to sit [at the negotiating table] with Putin to find out how he thinks,” the American president noted, expressing confidence that the Russian authorities “miscalculated in all their initial calculations” regarding the special operation.