A last chance interview between Macron and Putin on Ukraine

Published on : 02/20/2022 – 07:10Modified : 02/20/2022 – 07:13

It is a discussion presented as one of the last diplomatic efforts of the Western camp: French President Emmanuel Macron has a last chance meeting on Sunday February 20 with Vladimir Putin to try to avoid a Russian invasion of Ukraine, where tensions are growing on the front line in the east.

This interview scheduled for 10 a.m. GMT is maintained even as Kiev now calls on its Western allies to cease all “appeasement” policies towards Moscow, accused by Washington and Kiev of having massed 150,000 soldiers on the eastern Ukrainian borders. .

After their meeting on February 7 in Moscow, this discussion between the French and Russian presidents constitutes “the last possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine”, underlined the Elysee.

“Full attack” in preparation

Russia can launch an attack on Ukraine “at any time”, repeats for its part the White House.

US President Joe Biden is due to participate in a rare meeting of the National Security Council devoted to the Ukrainian crisis on Sunday, a few days before a meeting between his Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Thursday February 24.

But the lights are now red, with NATO saying that “all signs indicate that Russia is planning a full attack” on Ukraine.

Emmanuel Macron spoke on Saturday with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, who says he does not want to “respond to provocations along the line of contact”, according to the Elysee. Volodymyr Zelensky “entrusted him with telling Vladimir Putin Ukraine’s availability for dialogue”, underlined the French presidency.

“A Russian military action against Ukraine would bring the war to the heart of Europe”, hammered a French presidential adviser, evoking a risk of conflict “in Ukraine and around”. There would then be “no other possible option than a very strong reaction”, he added.

Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, who accuse Kiev of wanting to attack them, announced on Saturday a “general mobilization” of men able to fight, after ordering the evacuation of civilians to neighboring Russia.

>> To see: In the Donbass, a communication war between Ukraine and the separatists

During the night from Saturday to Sunday, Russian agencies reported artillery fire in the suburbs of Donetsk, in the immediate vicinity of the front line.

The Kremlin denies any intention to attack neighboring Ukraine, which the Kremlin wants to bring back into its sphere of influence.

Moscow conditions de-escalation on “guarantees” for its security, such as the withdrawal of NATO’s military infrastructure from Eastern Europe and the assurance that Ukraine will never join the Atlantic Alliance, demands unacceptable to Westerners.

Rising tensions with separatists

On the front, in eastern Ukraine, the fighting has redoubled. Kiev and Moscow-backed separatists accuse each other of inflaming the conflict, which has claimed more than 14,000 lives since 2014.

The Russian region of Rostov, bordering Ukraine, has declared a state of emergency to deal with a possible influx of refugees from separatist areas.

According to the latest figures from the separatists, more than 22,000 people have been evacuated to Russia, a low figure for areas where several hundred thousand people live.

>> To (re) see: the guest of France 24, the journalist Benoît Vitkine: “For Putin, Ukraine is an incongruity”

For nearly three months, Washington has been sounding the alarm over preparations for a Russian offensive in Ukraine.

On Friday, Joe Biden said he was, for the first time, “convinced” that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had decided to invade Ukraine “in the coming days”, and that the current increase in clashes on the front line in the east of the country aimed to create a “false justification” for launching the offensive.

“No war with Russia”, “No more war, neither cold nor hot. What we need is love”, said the signs held up during a small demonstration on Saturday in New York.

In Warsaw, a demonstration of solidarity with Ukraine is scheduled for Sunday at midday, when the Munich Security Conference ends.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian president had urged Westerners to stop their “appeasement” policy vis-à-vis Moscow and to increase their military aid to Kiev, “shield of Europe”.

With AFP