During his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron was expected to seek a larger agreement on a new security deal between Russia and the European Union. File Photo by Stephane De Sakutin/EPA
Feb. 7 (UPI) — Ukraine is on the agenda for multiple world leaders on Monday — including French President Emmanuel Macron, who will visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to try and defuse rising tensions.
Macron’s visit is the latest effort to cool tensions in the crisis that’s risen with Russia’s troop buildup near its border with Ukraine. Western powers fear that Moscow is planning an invasion of Ukraine.
“We will discuss the terms to de-escalate,” Macron said, according to CNBC. “One has to be realistic. We will not achieve unilateral gestures, but it is indispensable to avoid degradation of the situation before we build mechanisms and gestures of reciprocal trust.”
Macron will be looking to create an atmosphere for a larger agreement on a new security deal between Russia and the European Union.
The French leader spoke with U.S. President Joe Biden by phone on Sunday and the two discussed diplomatic and deterrence efforts. The White House said they agreed to continue consulting with Ukraine and others partners over protection.
Airmen from the 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing support the arrival of XVIII Airborne Corps Soldiers in Poland on Friday. These were the first of about 2,000 American troops sent to the region to support NATO and Ukraine against Russian aggression. Photo by Sgt. Stephen P. Perez/U.S. Army/UPI
Biden said last week that the United States will send about 3,000 troops to Eastern Europe to support NATO and Ukraine against a Russian invasion.
In the meantime, new satellite images released by Maxar, a U.S.-based technology company, appeared to show new advanced military deployments by Russia in numerous locations in Belarus, which shares a border with Ukraine.
The images showed Russian troops moving through Belarus and building a field camp about 20 miles from the Ukrainian border.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday said the United States and European have continued to ignore Russian security concerns.
“Our Western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic,” Peskov said, according to Interfax.
“Instead, they prefer a rather agitated discussion of what they call Russia’s future invasion of Ukraine. We can hardly speak of any lull here. We have been hearing daily statements on the topic from the United States and the European capitals.”
Russian officials said the troop movements in Belarus are part of military drills that began on Monday.