French Foreign Ministry: Macron’s calls to Putin cannot be considered negotiations

French President Emmanuel Macron is calling Russian President Vladimir Putin largely at the request of Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Anne-Clair Legendre said in an interview with RTVI.

At the same time, she noted that such calls “cannot be considered negotiations.” At the moment, Russia, in her opinion, “has shown no desire” to engage in dialogue.

According to Legendre, at the request of the Ukrainian side, in particular, Macron discussed with Putin the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Energodar. The representative of the French Foreign Ministry noted that Western countries are concerned about the situation at the nuclear power plant, and thanks to these calls, observers from the IAEA were sent to the plant.

According to Legendre, France initiates telephone conversations with Russia in coordination with Paris’s allies. This is necessary to maintain a channel for dialogue. “Why is he [Макрон] does it? <…> We clearly see that today the conversation is carried out through weapons, the time for negotiations has not yet come. But there will come a time when, given the support we provide to Ukraine on the ground, the Ukrainians will decide that the moment has come for negotiations in order to achieve the return of their territorial integrity and their sovereignty, ”said the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to the Kremlin website, since the beginning of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, Macron has spoken to Putin by phone 14 times. Last June, the French leader said he had “hundred hours” of talks with the Russian president since the winter. The last such conversation was reported in the Kremlin on 11 September.