French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Russia was trying to bypass the European Union by negotiating only with the United States for Ukraine, Reuters reports.
Talks between US and Russian diplomats will begin in Geneva on Monday after weeks of tensions over the deployment of Russian troops near the border with neighboring Ukraine.
"(Russian President) Vladimir Putin wants to bypass the European Union ... he wants to make indentations in the EU's consolidation, which is consolidating," Jean-Yves Le Drian told BFM TV and RMC Radio. "You can't look at EU security without Europeans."
French President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference later that he planned to hold talks with Putin soon to discuss various topics, including Ukraine, but did not give details or say when that could happen.
"Putin has offered to discuss with NATO a return to areas of influence from the past ... which would mean that Russia will restore the spirit of Yalta," Le Drian said, referring to a conference between Allied forces from World War II in February 1945. which gave the Soviet Union control over its Eastern European neighbors.
"This is not our point of view, but we must accept the discussion."
No comments:
Post a Comment