Phone call to Putin and Zelensky: reestablish the ceasefire
FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
PARIS – Surprisingly, in the night, after a series of phone calls from Emmanuel Macron in Moscow, Kiev, London, Berlin and Washington, the announcement of the Elysée arrives: Russian President Putin and American President Biden have accepted the proposal in principle Macron to see each other soon in a bilateral summit “which will later be extended to the parties involved”, on security and strategic stability in Europe. The content of the summit will be prepared by US Secretary of State Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov at their meeting already scheduled for Thursday 24 February. “The summit can only be held if Russia does not invade Ukraine”, the Elysée is keen to specify in the communiqué. Confirmation also comes from White House spokesperson Jen Psaki.
It is the unexpected conclusion of Macron’s feverish diplomatic activity who spent Sunday talking on the phone, separately, with the two protagonists of the crisis, the Russian Putin and the Ukrainian Zelensky, then late in the evening with the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the American President Biden, and then again at 11pm with Putin for about an hour.
Both Putin and Zelensky agreed on the need to “re-establish the ceasefire” in Donbass and Putin assured that he wanted to step up efforts to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine through diplomatic channels. A conflict that was dormant until a few days ago, when it resumed on the impulse of Moscow. Before the announcement of the summit, Macron’s advisers insisted that “every day that passes without war is a day earned for peace. Great concern, but the ways of diplomacy are not yet exhausted, the ball is in Putin’s field ».
The turning point of the summit came after due pessimism to the not very encouraging news coming from Belarus. After President Macron’s visit to the Kremlin on February 7, Putin said Russian soldiers would leave Belarus as planned after the exercises ended, thereby easing one of the threats weighing on Ukraine. It seemed the important proof of the de-escalation so sought after by Europe, the useful indicator to understand if things are better or worse.
The exercises should have ended yesterday, but Belarus announced that the 30,000 Russian soldiers present on its territory remain for now, as fighting has resumed in Donbass, east of Ukraine. The Elysée, however, affirms that Putin reiterated to Macron “the intention to withdraw troops from Belarus at the end of the current exercises”, and that it will take some time to understand what this means.
It is an important aspect because the northern border Ukraine with Belarus is less protected than the eastern one with Russia, and starting from the north the Russian tanks would reach the capital Kiev more quickly. The West appears relatively united, but the tone had been harsher on the part of the United States and Great Britain all day. Biden met the National Security Council last night, convinced that Russia can launch the attack at any time. On Friday, the US president said he was confident that Putin had already made the decision to invade Ukraine: yesterday it became known that Biden was based on intelligence sources, according to which Putin gave the order to attack military commanders on the ground . According to Johnson, Russia is preparing “the biggest war in Europe since 1945”.
The US Embassy in Moscow, citing sources in the media, warns against “possible attacks on shopping malls, railway and metro stations in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in the areas of greatest tension along the border between Russia and Ukraine”. The news of the Putin-Biden summit then extended to Ukraine and the EU gives time and new possibilities for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
February 20, 2022 (change February 21, 2022 | 03:48)
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