A "perfect match between the French and German positions" was determined by President Emmanuel Macron after a telephone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Saturday afternoon.

In the communiqué of the Élysée Palace, there was a certain relief that Scholz is not aiming for a diplomatic initiative this Monday in Kiev and on Tuesday in Moscow that goes beyond the mantra of "de-escalation".

According to the Élysée Palace, Paris expects the Chancellor's visit to give President Putin "clearer signals" than a week ago.

Michael Wiegel

Political correspondent based in Paris.

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After another phone call with Putin, which lasted an hour and forty minutes, Macron is no longer under any illusions about the remaining scope for negotiations.

According to the Élysée, Macron sent Putin a “very clear message”.

Moscow must expect a “robust, coordinated and unified response” should a military offensive on Ukrainian sovereign territory take place.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to whom he later reported, thanked Macron for "his personal commitment".

Chair of the Battle Group in Romania

In the Élysée there is talk of "tough economic sanctions" in the event of a Russian attack, but also openly about a revision of the NATO-Russia Founding Act from 1997. Poland has long been urging that the Founding Act no longer be regarded as a basis, since the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula is a clear violation of the agreement.

So far, Paris and Berlin have always shied away from de facto terminating an international agreement.

But at the most recent summit of the Weimar Triangle in Berlin, a new position was worked out with the Polish President.

According to the Élysée, the deployment of missile systems and NATO troops and heavy equipment on the eastern flank is in the works should Russia violate Ukraine's sovereignty and threaten "a corridor" from Belarus to Kaliningrad.

These plans go far beyond the expansion of the "enhanced forward presence" (EFP) to Romania and Bulgaria discussed in NATO.

France has already pledged to send up to 1,000 soldiers.

It has now been confirmed in the Élysée that France is ready to chair the Battle Group in Romania.

Between 2014 and 2020, France delivered the most arms to Ukraine with a volume of 1,631 million euros, ahead of Poland with an export volume of 657.5 million euros.

In 2021, according to the EU's annual reports on exports of military equipment and technology, Britain overtook France as the main European arms supplier to Ukraine.

According to diplomatic circles in Paris, the entire Founding Act is up for grabs in the event of such aggression.

In the Founding Act, NATO makes a commitment to Moscow that no significant military facilities will be built on the territory of the new NATO members.

Nuclear power France has long followed with great concern that Russia has stationed Iskander tactical surface-to-surface missiles in Kaliningrad, which can be armed with conventional and nuclear warheads.

Skepticism about Moscow is particularly high in the diplomatic service.

This was one of the reasons why Macron, at the end of August 2019, railed against the "deep state" hindering his rapprochement efforts with Moscow.

Macron learned from the failed "reset" attempt.

From the Élysée it was said that during his visit to the Kremlin, Macron found Putin to be much tougher and more unyielding than in the summer of 2019.

Putin reassured Macron in a phone call on Saturday that no attack on Ukraine was planned.

In Paris it is emphasized that there will be no “blank check” for Putin.