• News
  • Sport
  • TV
  • Radio
  • Education
  • TV Licences
  • Contact Us

For all official information and updates regarding COVID-19, visit the South African Department of Health's website at www.sacoronavirus.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION
Home World

France’s Macron flies to Moscow in bid to ease Ukraine tensions

7 February 2022, 2:20 PM  |
Reuters Reuters |  @SABCNews
France's President Emmanuel Macron leads a special cabinet meeting to discuss new COVID-19 vaccine pass and new measures to curb the spread of Omicron coronavirus

France's President Emmanuel Macron leads a special cabinet meeting to discuss new COVID-19 vaccine pass and new measures to curb the spread of Omicron coronavirus

Image: Reuters

France's President Emmanuel Macron leads a special cabinet meeting to discuss new COVID-19 vaccine pass and new measures to curb the spread of Omicron coronavirus

French President Emmanuel Macron flies to Moscow on Monday in bid to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to dial down tensions with Ukraine, where Western powers fear the Kremlin plans an invasion.

Moscow gave the visit a guarded welcome, saying it would listen to Macron’s ideas, but played down expectations of a breakthrough.

Russia has deployed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. It denies planning an invasion, but says it could take unspecified military measures if its demands are not met, including a promise by NATO never to admit Kyiv.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia was aware of Macron’s plans to ease tensions. But he added: “The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting.”

“In recent days there has been nothing new on the topic of security guarantees for Russia, our Western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic,” Peskov added.

Macron phoned Western allies, Putin and Ukraine’s leader ahead of the visit, and will follow up on Tuesday with a trip to Kyiv, staking a lot of political capital on a mission that could prove embarrassing if he returns empty-handed.

“We have to be very realistic,” Macron told the Journal du Dimanche in an interview in the build-up to the mission.

“We will not obtain unilateral gestures, but it is essential to prevent a deterioration of the situation before building mechanisms and reciprocal gestures of trust.”

Two sources close to Macron said one aim of his visit was to buy time and freeze the situation for several months, at least until a “Super April” of elections in Europe- in Hungary, Slovenia and, crucially for Macron, in France.

RED CARPETS, CONFRONTATIONS

The French leader, who has earned a reputation for highly publicised diplomatic forays since he took power in 2017, has tried to both cajole and confront Putin over the past five years.

Soon after his election, Macron rolled out the red carpet for Putin at the Palace of Versailles, but also used the visit to publicly decry Russian meddling during the election. Two years later, the pair met at the French president’s summer residence.

Eastern European countries who suffered decades under Soviet rule have criticized Macron’s approach to Russia, leery of his talk of negotiating a “new European security order”.

To counter critics ahead of the trip and take on the mantle of European leadership in this crisis, Macron has been at pains to consult with other Western leaders, including Britain’s Boris Johnson and U.S. President Joe Biden.

However, unlike in the previous Ukraine crisis in 2015 when then German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French President Francois Hollande travelled to the Kremlin together, Macron has not taken his German counterpart with him.

Olaf Scholz will be travelling to Kyiv and then Moscow next week. His foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, is in Kyiv on Monday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and will visit the conflict area in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday.

The French president’s visit to Moscow and Ukraine comes less than three months before a presidential election at home. His political advisers see a potential electoral dividend, although Macron has yet to announce whether he will run.

“For the president, it’s an opportunity to show his leadership in Europe. That he is above the fray,” one French government source said.

Share article
Tags: FranceVladamir PutinEmmanuel Macron
Previous Post

ActionSA laments “short sightedness” of some political parties in Ekurhuleni coalition

Next Post

[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT] Family wants father accused of rape to remain behind bars

Related Posts

Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's former defence secretary and brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaks to the members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka March 27, 2017.

Sri Lanka’s ousted president expected to go to Thailand

10 August 2022, 9:15 AM
A woman wearing a face shield finishes her ballot during the primary election in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US August 11, 2020.

Abortion foes win Republican governor nods in Wisconsin, Minnesota

10 August 2022, 7:10 AM
A destroyed building is seen after a rocket attack on a university campus, amid Russia's invasion, in Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, May 21, 2022.

Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

10 August 2022, 3:49 AM
A view of former US President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home after Trump said that FBI agents raided it, in Palm Beach, Florida, US August 9, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello

Trump’s FBI investigation is unprecedented: Analyst

9 August 2022, 8:41 PM
FILE PHOTO: Planes are reflected in the facade of the Ramon International Airport after an inauguration ceremony for the new airport, just outside the southern Red Sea resort city of Eilat, Israel January 21, 2019.

Flights for West Bank Palestinians to Turkey to start at end of August

9 August 2022, 6:26 PM
Trumps Home

Trump says FBI raided his Florida Mar-a-Lago home

9 August 2022, 9:20 AM
Next Post

[WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT] Family wants father accused of rape to remain behind bars

Most Viewed

  • 24hrs
  • Week
  • Month
  • EMS says fire at Bree Street Taxi Rank in Johannesburg has been extinguished
  • The public has until 18 May to make submissions on Icasa’s regulations for extension of expiry period for data, airtime
  • ANC NEC expected to hold a special meeting on Sunday
  • Eastern Cape flood victims plead for support as access to food, services remains difficult
  • Amathole Regional Secretary elated to have corruption charges against him dropped
  • Mabuyane confirms receipt of eNyobeni Tavern victims’ results
  • Major crash involving several vehicles on N3 to KZN
  • Zikalala says he never betrayed Zuma
  • Roads leading into Kagiso blocked off over alleged zama zama gang rape
  • Hollywood couple Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson split – Media reports
  • Ramaphosa given 48 hours to step aside
  • Mogalakwena Municipality in Limpopo directed to terminate appointment of more than 400 workers
  • Miss SA Lalela Mswane crowned Miss Supranational 2022
  • EFF’s planned national shutdown won’t be an ordinary one: Malema
  • ANC Deputy Secretary General Jessie Duarte passes away

LATEST

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) Naledi Pandor, hosts Breakfast Meeting with Members of the Diplomatic Corps in Cape Town.
  • Africa

Pandor to host Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs Minister on Wednesday


A nurse holds a monkeypox vaccination at the Northwell Health Immediate Care Center at Fire Island-Cherry Grove, in New York, U.S., July 15, 2022.
  • Monkeypox Outbreak
  • Sci-tech

Europe considers “dose-sparing” to increase monkeypox vaccine, WHO seeks trials


KZN Economic Development and Tourism MEC Ravi Pillay during a media briefing
  • Politics

KZN Economic Development MEC Ravi Pillay resigns


Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's former defence secretary and brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa speaks to the members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka March 27, 2017.
  • World

Sri Lanka’s ousted president expected to go to Thailand


File image: A person picks up some mandarin oranges at a fruits shop.
  • Business

SA’s Citrus Growers Association accuses EU of bowing to political pressure


Election workers count ballots cast during the general elections, in Eldoret, Kenya August 9, 2022.
  • Africa

Early signs show tight Kenyan presidential election


Weather

  • About the SABC
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Site Map

SABC © 2022

No Result
View All Result
  • SOUTH AFRICA
  • POLITICS
  • BUSINESS
  • SPORT
  • AFRICA
  • WORLD
  • SCI-TECH
  • LIFESTYLE
  • FEATURES
  • OPINION

© 2022

Previous ActionSA laments “short sightedness” of some political parties in Ekurhuleni coalition
Next [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT] Family wants father accused of rape to remain behind bars