Macron and Scholz open a dialogue channel with Russia and Ukraine to reduce tension

Some Russian soldiers participated this Wednesday in military maneuvers in the Rostov region. SERGEY PIVOVAROV (REUTERS)

A diplomatic channel to reduce tension in Ukraine was opened on Wednesday in Paris.

France and Germany revived the dialogue between Russia and Ukraine with a meeting of advisers to the leaders of the four countries.

It was about seeking a "de-escalation" in the face of the accumulation of Russian troops and weapons along the Ukrainian borders.

In a statement published after eight and a half hours of meeting, the representatives of the four countries, which diplomatic jargon calls the Normandy Format, agreed on "the unconditional respect for the ceasefire" in the conflict between Kiev and the separatists protected by Moscow of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Since 2014 the war has left more than 13,000 dead. The four countries promised to "dilute the current disagreements" in future meetings. They met in two weeks in Berlin, which, at least on paper, could remove the hypothesis of an imminent Russian attack on Ukraine.

"The goal was to send a signal of de-escalation or de-escalation in a Euro-Russian context that is very difficult, with many questions about Russian intentions and persistent tension on the borders between Ukraine and Russia," said a source of the Elysée Palace who requested anonymity.

The same source pointed out that the meeting sought to "test the will of the Russians" to negotiate at a time of nerves and escalation.

The statement is an advance, according to Macron's team, as it is the first time since 2019 that the four have agreed on a joint text.

And although the meeting did not address issues such as the growing Russian military presence near Ukraine's borders, the commitment "is important today, when the whole world is questioning the intentions of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin," according to the cited source.

The game is played in several bands.

NATO countries have sent or are contemplating sending troops and weapons to former countries in the Russian-Soviet orbit as a deterrent against a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

Both the EU and the US have indicated that they have prepared punitive measures in case of aggression.

At the same time, everyone keeps multiple channels of dialogue open. One is precisely the Normandy Format. It is made up of France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine and was created in June 2014, shortly after Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in a referendum considered illegal and pro-Russian secessionists took control of regions in the east of the country. The four countries subsequently signed the Minsk Agreements - which included the implementation of a ceasefire - to try to end the conflict.

The Frenchman Emmanuel Bonne and the German Jens Plötner, respectively, diplomatic advisers to President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Olaf Scholz, participated in this Wednesday's meeting at the Elysee.

Also Dimitri Kozak, President Putin's deputy chief of staff;

and Andriy Yermak, director of the office of the Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski.

The meeting "is a strong signal of the predisposition to a peaceful solution", declared Yermak before entering the Elysee.

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