Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron eyed an existing peace plan for the Donbass conflict region as a step towards de-escalation in the Ukraine crisis in talks in Moscow Monday.
At a more than five-hour meeting with Macron, the Russian president called on Ukraine to implement the Donbass peace plan. The so-called Minsk agreements have been ignored by the Ukrainian leadership so far, Putin charged early Tuesday after more the talks with Macron in Moscow.
A dialogue between Kiev and the leadership of the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk was necessary. “From my point of view, it is obvious that the current authorities in Kiev are on course to dismantle the Minsk
agreements,” Putin said.
The Kremlin chief also accused Ukraine of human rights abuses, including the repression of native Russian speakers, a ban on the media and crackdown on opposition figures.
Putin asked Macron to address these issues at his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev on Tuesday. Macron will then travel to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), who will then be back from the United States.
France currently holds the rotating EU presidency. After the marathon talks with Putin, Macron said he sees possibilities for a diplomatic solution to the standoff with Russia, saying that the peace plan for the Donbass conflict region must be implemented “strictly and completely.
Source: MIA
