Vladimir Putin is “ready for dialogue” with Emmanuel Macron, as confirmed during Saturday night into Sunday by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov to the Russian news agency RIA.
Macron willing to speak with Putin
Mr. Macron stated, immediately after the EU summit, “that he is willing to speak with Putin” and on this matter “it may be important to recall what the president” of Russia said in the major press conference he gave on Friday, namely that “he is ready to engage in dialogue with Macron,” explained Mr. Peskov. “If there is mutual political will, this can only be seen positively,” added the Russian presidency spokesperson, according to the agency.
Mr. Peskov was referring to statements made by the French president in the early morning hours on Friday in Brussels, after the summit where the European Union reached an agreement to grant a 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine to cover its financing needs for the next two years. “I think it could again be useful to speak with Vladimir Putin,” Mr. Macron told the press.
“I note that there are some who speak to Vladimir Putin,” he added, apparently referring to his American counterpart Donald Trump. “Therefore, I think that we, Europeans and Ukrainians, have an interest in shaping a framework to restart this discussion” because “if not, we will discuss among ourselves and with negotiators who discuss alone with the Russians, which is not the best,” he explained.
“Constructive” talks
Trump envoys conducted a series of meetings for separate talks with Moscow on one hand and with Ukrainian and European officials on the other, though no hopes for an agreement to end the war in Ukraine have emerged so far.
Negotiators from Ukraine, European countries and the US discussed in Miami. Washington was represented by Steve Witkoff, White House special envoy, and Jared Kushner, the American president’s son-in-law and advisor.
Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev began talks with both of them on Saturday – he characterized them as “constructive” and added that they will continue today. Neither bilateral Moscow-Kiev contacts nor trilateral ones are planned. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky for his part urged Washington on Saturday to escalate its pressure on Moscow.
