Talks between Macron and Putin 'to avoid conflict in Ukraine' last 105 minutes
A telephone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the situation in Ukraine went ahead as planned, with Macron then calling his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. Zelensky has since called for an immediate ceasefire.
Issued on:
The call to Moscow, described by the French side as part of a last-ditch effort to avert a Russian invasion of Ukraine, began at 11 AM.
The conversation between the two leaders lasted 105 minutes, and comes two weeks after Macron went to Moscow as part of continuing efforts to persuade Putin to hold back from an invasion.
The talks were presented as "the final possible and necessary efforts to avoid a major conflict in Ukraine," a statement from the Elysée Palace, the president's official residence, said.
The call comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday told Macron that he would not react to what he called Russia's "provocations", according to the Elysée. The Ukrainian leader remains open to "dialogue" with Moscow.
However, in a speech to the Munich Security Conference he also called on western governments to stop what he said was "a policy of appeasement" towards Putin.
Russian troops to stay in Belarus
Russian military exercises in Belarus will continue, the authorities in Minsk announced Sunday, leaving Moscow with a large force near the northern Ukraine border
Moscow had previously said the 30,000 troops it has in Belarus were simply carrying out readiness drills with its ally, which would be finished by 20 February, allowing the Russians to return to their bases.
But, as the day arrived for the operation to end, the Belarus defence ministry said Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko had decided to "continue inspections", citing increased military activity on their shared borders and an alleged "escalation" in east Ukraine.
The move will be seen as a further tightening of the screws on Ukraine, already facing increased shelling from Russian-backed separatist rebels and a force of what Western capitals says is more than 150,000 Russian personnel on its borders.
The decision not to withdraw will also be seen as a rebuff to efforts by leaders like Macron and Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz to urge their Russian counterpart to pull back from the brink of war.
Boris Johnson warns of war
Russia is preparing to plunge Europe into its worst conflict since World War II, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said, warning that any invasion of Ukraine would freeze Moscow out of global finance.
"The fact is that all the signs are that the plan has already in some senses begun," he said in a BBC interview broadcast Sunday from the Munich Security Conference.
Russian invasion plans would see its troops not just enter Ukraine from the rebel-held east, but from Belarus to the north and encircle the capital Kyiv, Johnson said, citing US intelligence relayed to Western leaders by President Joe Biden.
"People need to understand the sheer cost in human life that could entail," he said, after previously indicating that the West would continue to support any Ukraine resistance after an invasion.
"I'm afraid to say that the plan we are seeing is for something that could be really the biggest war in Europe since 1945, just in terms of sheer scale."
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning
Subscribe