"The responses of the United States and NATO have not taken into account the fundamental concerns of Russia", indicated this Friday the Kremlin in a press release devoted to the meeting between the two leaders, considering that the concern key to Moscow "was ignored".
A little earlier, for an hour, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine spoke by telephone.
The French president said he wanted to find the means to de-escalate the Ukrainian crisis, in particular by relaunching the implementation of the 2015 Minsk peace agreements within the quadripartite framework of the Normandy format (France, Germany, Russia, Ukraine).
Diplomacy and “not war”
During a meeting in this format on Wednesday in Paris, Russians and Ukrainians agreed to work towards a consolidation of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine where a conflict between Kiev and pro-Russian separatists has left more than 13,000 dead since 2014.
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For his part, the head of Russian diplomacy said he wanted diplomacy and “not war”.
“We have chosen the path of diplomacy for many decades,” Sergei Lavrov said in an interview broadcast on several Russian radios and TVs.
And to add: “If it is up to Russia, there will be no war.
We don't want wars.
But neither will we allow our interests to be grossly flouted, ignored.
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Except that Russia wants to develop the “concept of limited sovereignty” in Ukraine, which is totally rejected by the United States and NATO.