Paris/ Moscow: French President Emmanuel Macron will visit Russia next week, given the ongoing verbal conflict between Russia and Western countries over the Ukraine issue. Last week itself, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Macron held a telephone discussion. Besides, Macron is considered the first significant European leader to visit Russia. Recently, the United States and the United Kingdom had highlighted claims about Russia conspiring to hold mock drills to attack Ukraine. Hence, Macron’s visit to Russia appears significant given this background.
Moreover, President Putin had proposed a security pact to the United States and NATO to reduce tensions over the Ukraine issue. In the proposal, Russia had demanded that alongside Ukraine and Georgia, NATO must not allow membership to those countries, which have been part of the Soviet Union back in the day. At the same time, it mentioned that NATO must retreat its military deployment from NATO and Central Europe and stop its exercises near the Russian border. However, NATO has dismissed these demands in its written response.
This refusal by NATO has upset the Russian President. Moreover, news has surfaced that Russia is augmenting its military deployment to attack Ukraine. Hence, the Western nations have once again made efforts to discuss, given such movements of Russia. The United States has independently proposed to Russia, which mentions the provision to look after the bases in Europe. But, the European NATO members do not seem to agree on this proposal.
Against this background, French President Macron’s initiative regarding this stands significant. Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had decided to hold discussions with Russian President Putin, given the strains between Europe and Russia. Both leaders have spoken several times in the last few months, cited analysts.
Meanwhile, a Russian representative also informed that new German chancellor Olaf Scholz would visit Russia following French President Macron.
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