Russian President Vladimir Putin complained to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday January 28 about the West's rejection of his demands to lead to a de-escalation of the Russian-Western conflict around Ukraine and NATO.
Read alsoHow the Ukrainian crisis puts the Macron-Putin relationship to the test
"
The responses of the United States and NATO did not take into account the fundamental concerns of Russia
," the Kremlin said in a statement devoted to the meeting between the two leaders.
"
The key question has been ignored, namely how the United States and its allies intend to (...) implement the principle that no one should strengthen their security at the expense of other countries
", continued the Russian presidency. .
More than 100,000 Russian soldiers massed at the Ukrainian border
According to the Kremlin, Russia will "
determine its future reaction
" after studying in detail the responses of its rivals.
More than 100,000 Russian soldiers have been massed on the Ukrainian border since the end of 2021, according to estimates by Westerners who fear that an invasion of Ukraine, Russia's pro-Western neighbor, is imminent.
Russia denies any plan of invasion, but considers itself threatened by the expansion of NATO for 20 years and by Western support for Ukraine.
It therefore conditioned de-escalation on the end of the policy of enlargement of the Atlantic Alliance, in particular to Ukraine, and a return to Western military deployments on the 1997 borders. But the United States and NATO have, unsurprisingly, formally rejected these demands on Wednesday, while proposing negotiations on reciprocal limits to the deployment of short and medium-range missiles of the two rival nuclear powers in Europe as well as to military exercises near the opposing camp.
Read alsoThe United States seizes the UN Security Council of the crisis around Ukraine
Vladimir Putin for his part underlined, during the interview with Emmanuel Macron, that Russia wanted to continue working on the resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine, opposing Kiev to pro-Russian separatists for eight years.
As such, he insisted on the existing format of talks which brings together Moscow, Kiev, Berlin and Paris.
A meeting of advisers from the leaders of these four countries took place on January 26, the first in months, and another is scheduled for February.