Vladimir Putin is ready to talk with French President Emmanuel Macron over the war in Ukraine, the Russian leaders’ spokesman said in an interview published Sunday.
Putin has “expressed readiness to engage in dialogue with Macron”, Dmitry Peskov told state news agency RIA Novosti.
“Therefore, if there is mutual political will, then this can only be assessed positively.”
Macron said this week he believed Europe should reach back out to Putin over ending the war.
If the US-led peace talks break down, “we will have to, in the coming weeks, find ways for Europeans to re-engage in a full-fledged dialogue with Russia, in full transparency with Ukraine,” the French President said. He added that negotiations could move forward in the “next hours.”
EU leaders agreed on Friday to give Ukraine a loan of €90 billion to plug looming budget shortfalls as the conflict approaches the end of its fourth year.
But they failed to agree on using frozen Russian assets to come up with the funds.
(cp)
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