The French and Russian presidents, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Poutine, agreed on Sunday February 20 to do everything possible to put an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine, the Élysée announced.

The two leaders also agreed, during their telephone conversation, on "the need to favor a diplomatic solution to the current crisis and to do everything to achieve it", added the French presidency, specifying that the Minister of Foreign Affairs , Jean-Yves Le Drian, will meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov "in the coming days".

According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin also asked, during this telephone conversation with his French counterpart, that NATO and the United States "take seriously" Russia's demands concerning its security, at the heart of the current crisis between Moscow and the West.

"Intensify the search for solutions through diplomatic means"

"Serious concerns have been expressed about the sharp deterioration of the situation on the line of contact in the Donbass," the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that Vladimir Putin "noted that the provocations of the Ukrainian security forces were at the origin of rock climbing".

The Russian president also considered that the deliveries of modern weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian forces by the West "push Kiev towards a military solution" in its conflict with the pro-Russian separatists, which has lasted since 2014.

"Kiev is only imitating a process of negotiations and stubbornly refuses to implement the Minsk agreements" signed in 2015 and supposed to settle the conflict, Vladimir Putin continued.

"Given the urgency of the situation, the presidents recognized that it was necessary to intensify the search for solutions by diplomatic means", also indicated the Kremlin, the aim being to "facilitate the restoration of the ceasefire -fire and to ensure progress in the resolution of the conflict".

Vladimir Putin also "reaffirmed the need for the United States and NATO to take Russia's requests for security guarantees seriously and to respond to them in a concrete and substantial way".

Russia, accused of having massed 150,000 soldiers on the borders of Ukraine with a view to an invasion, demands the promise that Kiev will never integrate NATO and an end to the military reinforcement of the Alliance on its borders.

These demands were rejected by Westerners.

With AFP

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