French President Emmanuel Macron was to travel to Kiev yesterday after offering Russia “concrete security guarantees” in an effort to dissuade Moscow from invading Ukraine, with Russia’s leader vowing to find compromise in response.
Macron’s visit comes during a week of intense Western diplomacy amid a major Russian military buildup on its southwestern frontier that has raised fears it could soon march into Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Macron that Moscow would “do everything to find compromises that suit everyone,” raising the prospect of a path to de-escalating the situation.
Photo: AFP
Putin said several proposals put forward by Macron at talks on Monday could form a basis for moving forward on the situation over Ukraine.
“A number of his ideas, proposals ... are possible as a basis for further steps,” Putin said after more than five hours of talks in the Kremlin.
He did not provide any details, but said the two leaders would speak by telephone after Macron meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The French president said he had made proposals of “concrete security guarantees” to Putin.
“President Putin assured me of his readiness to engage in this sense, and his desire to maintain stability and the territorial integrity of Ukraine,” Macron said.
“There is no security for the Europeans if there is no security for Russia,” he said.
The French president said that the proposals include an engagement from both sides not to take any new military action, the launching of a new strategic dialogue and efforts to revive the peace process in Kiev’s conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Putin said that Ukrainian authorities were to blame for the continued conflict in the country’s east, home to pro-Russian breakaway enclaves that have previously seen fierce fighting between separatists and Ukrainian forces.
“Kiev still rejects every opportunity for a peaceful restoration of its territorial integrity,” Putin said.
In Washington, US President Joe Biden warned Putin that he would “end” the new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if Moscow sends forces across the Ukrainian border as it did during the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
“If Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2,” Biden told a joint White House news conference with German Chancellor Olag Scholz on Monday.
“I promise you, we will bring an end to it,” Biden said.
Scholz was less direct and said only that Berlin was “united” with Washington, but declined to mention the pipeline by name.
Scholz himself is to travel to Moscow and Kiev next week for talks with Putin and Zelenskiy.
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS