BACK AND FORTH

Macron Claims Russia Vowed No ‘Escalation’ in Ukraine—but Kremlin Says No Deal

The French president might be the only one to buy Putin’s “assurances” that Moscow will respect “the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters Tuesday that he had managed to get Russia’s Vladimir Putin to promise no more “escalation” in Ukraine—but the Kremlin was quick to cast doubt on any progress. After the two leaders sat down for five hours of talks Monday, Macron said he had offered “concrete security guarantees” to Russia in its standoff with Western leaders and NATO. In return, he said, “President Putin assured me of his readiness to engage in this sense and his desire to maintain stability and the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Agence France-Presse reported. “I obtained [a pledge] that there will be no degradation or escalation,” Macron said. During a subsequent visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, Macron, perhaps rather naively, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky he was confident he had gotten through to Putin and that there “now existed the possibility of advancing the negotiations,” Le Monde reported. His comments seemed to line up with a report by the Financial Times that said Macron had brokered a deal with Putin for Moscow to avoid any further “military initiatives” and withdraw thousands of troops that have amassed near Ukraine’s border. The Kremlin, however, disputed FT’s report, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisting such a deal was “impossible.” “Moscow and Paris could not have concluded any deals,” Peskov was quoted saying by Russia’s Interfax news agency.

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Allison QuinnNews Editor

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