The Russian invasion of Ukraine .. Macron calls for keeping the door of dialogue open with Putin, describing him as a deceiver, and NATO leaders discuss developments

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Friday to keep the door open for dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin while his forces continue to invade Ukraine, and while NATO leaders held a summit to discuss developments, Western countries imposed unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.

At a press conference in Brussels at the conclusion of an emergency EU summit last night, Macron said he called for the door to dialogue with Putin to be left open while his country imposes sanctions on Russia.

He added that yesterday, Thursday, he had a "frank, direct and quick" phone call with his Russian counterpart to ask him to stop military operations because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky asked him to do so, noting that he conveyed to Putin Zelensky's request his readiness to negotiate to resolve the crisis.

The French president said that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, was "disingenuous" during his talks with him a few days ago, as he discussed with him on the phone the details of the Minsk agreements while he was preparing to invade Ukraine, adding that the war showed that Europe needed to become a real power and be independent in the areas of energy and security. .

Macron's comments came after European Union leaders condemned, during their emergency summit in Brussels, the Russian president's ignition of love in Europe, and imposed sanctions on Moscow, which the European Union's security and foreign policy official Josep Borrell described as unprecedented.

The package of sanctions approved by European leaders includes the sectors of finance, energy and transportation (Anadolu Agency)

Western sanctions

The leaders of the European Union countries have approved a new package of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, and said that the repercussions of the sanctions on Moscow will be enormous and dangerous.

The sanctions targeted the finance, energy and transportation sectors, under which exports of goods with civilian and military dual use are prohibited, the issuance of diplomatic visas is restricted, as well as technology exports to them are banned, and Moscow's entry into the financial markets of European Union countries is restricted.

However, the measures announced at the conclusion of the European summit did not reach the point of completely isolating Russia from the financial system, as it was not excluded from the "SWIFT" banking exchange system, which is necessary for making money transfers around the world, noting that Ukraine and member states of the Union demanded this matter, But some countries (such as Germany) preferred to keep this option for a future package of sanctions.

Britain also imposed sanctions on Russian banks, on some members of the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and on wealthy Russians in London.

Simultaneously, Japan, Australia and New Zealand imposed varying sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, while Switzerland - a non-EU country - announced that it would tighten its measures against Russia, so that the country could not be used to circumvent EU sanctions.

For its part, the United States on Thursday announced a package of sanctions that it said were aimed at undermining Russia's ability to do business in the world's major currencies, as well as sanctions against Russian banks and state-owned companies.

US President Joe Biden said that his country agreed with the leaders of the Group of Seven (Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan) to limit Russia's ability to be part of the global economy, its ability to finance and strengthen its armed forces, and also disrupt its ability to compete in a technology-dependent economy. Super precision.

The US Treasury (Finance) Department stated that the new sanctions include 24 people and financial, defense and security institutions in Belarus, due to the latter's support for the Russian attack on Ukraine, while the White House said that the sanctions are a small part of the US response to the Russian invasion.

In turn, the Republican leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, said that Congress would support what he described as devastating sanctions on the Kremlin, but considered that it should have imposed tough sanctions early enough to prevent the invasion and weaken Russia.

US forces deployed in Poland as part of NATO reinforcements (Reuters)

Atlantic reinforcements

Meanwhile, NATO leaders will hold a virtual summit on Friday to discuss developments in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Secretary-General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, had called for the summit to be held and, on the occasion, announced the activation of a plan for the common defense of member states.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said NATO's defenses had been beefed up on the eastern flank to deter any aggression that Russia might contemplate.

In statements to NBC, Blinken added that the Russian president had been planning an attack on Ukraine for a long time, and that the United States had made every effort to deter and discourage it.

On Thursday, a senior US official said that the Pentagon would send about 7,000 additional military personnel to Germany to reassure allies and deter a possible Russian attack on a NATO member state.

Washington had repositioned 1,000 soldiers in the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania), and in Romania, which feared that the conflict would extend to its borders.

Following the reinforcements announced on Thursday, the United States will have more than 90,000 military personnel in Europe.

Security Council vote

On the other hand, the UN Security Council is scheduled to vote this evening on a US draft resolution strongly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine and demanding Russia to withdraw its forces from that country immediately.

And put the draft resolution that the United States and Albania called on to vote under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, which allows the use of force to implement it, but this project is doomed to failure because of the veto that Russia itself enjoys in the Security Council as a permanent member of it, but Washington considers Russia's use of its veto will show its "isolation" in the international arena.

Evacuation of foreign nationals

On the other hand, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said yesterday, Thursday, that preparations for the process of evacuating his country's nationals from Ukraine have been completed, noting that there are facilities from Romania, Poland and Moldova in land evacuations.

The Chinese Embassy in Ukraine said that flights are being organized to evacuate its citizens who wish to leave the country.

Yesterday, Thursday, Tunisian President Kais Saied said during a cabinet meeting that a number of Tunisians residing in Ukraine are being evacuated across the land border to Poland.

In turn, the Iranian media reported that the Iranian airline is preparing to send special flights to Ukraine, to evacuate Iranian citizens.

For his part, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the organization has allocated $20 million in emergency aid to the victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Shabiya Manto, a spokeswoman for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said - in a statement to Agence France-Presse - that about 100,000 people were forced to leave. Their homes and displacement inside Ukraine, and that thousands of others left the country towards neighboring countries.