The talks held between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Joe Biden are part of efforts to reduce tensions between Russia and the West. This was announced by French President Emmanuel Macron, Agence France-Presse reports.
“Our strategy is to start working towards reducing tensions … The idea is to try to return Russia to the formats of coordination with us,” he said.
The French president recalled the existence of a diplomatic mechanism for resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine – the “Normandy format”. According to him, such a format is also necessary to neutralize contradictions and “relieve tension in relations between Russia and NATO.”
Bilateral talks between the Presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden, ended on December 7, they lasted more than two hours. The White House press service reported that Biden expressed deep concern of the United States and its European allies about “the concentration of Russian forces around Ukraine” and “made it clear that the United States and its allies will respond with decisive economic and other measures in the event of a military escalation.” The Kremlin has not yet provided details of the meeting.
Earlier, the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov told reporters that the most difficult issues of bilateral relations would be discussed. He also urged not to wait for breakthroughs following the meeting.
.