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French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday that preparations are underway to resume dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin nearly four years after Russia invaded Ukraine, but stressed that Moscow is not showing any “real willingness” to negotiate a ceasefire.
“It is being prepared, and so discussions are taking place at a technical level,” Macron told reporters during a visit to northeastern France, according to the French daily Le Monde.
“I think it would be useful, but I don’t think Russia is currently willing to conclude a peace agreement with Ukraine in the coming days or weeks,” he said.
Macron said contact with the Kremlin would be necessary to negotiate security guarantees once the war ends, adding that Europe should restore its own channels of communication with Moscow.
“In this context, it is important that Europeans restore their own channels of discussion,” he was quoted as saying.
At the same time, Macron underlined that France will continue to support Ukraine, saying Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure are “intolerable” and do not demonstrate a “genuine willingness” to pursue peace.
Macron said last year that Europe should re-engage with Putin rather than leaving the United States alone to lead negotiations to end the conflict triggered by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Dialogue between the European Union and Russia has been largely frozen since the invasion, with the bloc imposing sweeping sanctions and travel restrictions on Moscow.
In January, the Kremlin said it viewed calls by some European countries to resume dialogue with Russia as “positive.”
Macron had previously faced criticism for maintaining contact with Putin for months after the invasion began, before ending direct talks and shifting his focus toward military, political and financial support for Ukraine.
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