Feb 8, 2022: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready for a compromise and will consider proposals put forward by French leader Emmanuel Macron in talks on Monday, while accusing the West of escalating tensions over Ukraine.

Emerging from nearly five hours of talks in the Kremlin, the two leaders expressed hope that a solution could be found to the worst crisis since the end of the Cold War between Russia and the West.

Thanking Macron repeatedly for coming to Moscow, Putin told a joint news conference that the French leader had offered a number of ideas worth exploring.

Macron said he offered “concrete security guarantees” and said Putin “assured me he was ready to engage.” The French presidency said the proposals included a pledge by both sides not to take any new military action, the launch of a new strategic dialogue and efforts to restore the Ukrainian peace process.

Putin once again denied that Russia was acting aggressively, despite Western fears of a possible invasion of Ukraine after Russia had gathered tens of thousands of troops on its borders.

Macron will now head to Kyiv on Tuesday in an effort to dissuade Moscow from invading its neighbour Ukraine, with Russia’s leader vowing to find compromise in response.

President Vladimir Putin told Macron Moscow would “do everything to find compromises that suit everyone”, raising the prospect of a path to de-escalating the volatile situation. Since tensions began to soar in December, Macron had become the first top Western leader to meet Putin.

Meanwhile, Putin continues to deny that Russia was acting aggressively towards Ukraine or the West, saying “it is not us who are moving towards NATO’s borders”. He did however maintain that if Ukraine joins the Western military bloc, Russia could get sucked into a conflict with European countries.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, has expressed interest in closer ties with the West and membership in the NATO military alliance that sought to defeat Moscow and its communist allies during the Cold War. Putin has complained that NATO’s expansion to the east since the end of the Cold War has undermined Russia’s security.

The Russian leader said Ukrainian authorities were responsible for the ongoing conflict in the east of the country, home to pro-Russian separatist enclaves that had previously seen heavy fighting between separatists and Ukrainian forces.

US President Joe Biden on the other hand has presented a blunt warning to Russia saying, “If Russia invades — that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again — then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2.” The Nord stream 2 is complete but has yet to begin funnelling natural gas to Germany, tying energy-hungry Europe ever closer to Russia.

With the US saying there are 110,000 Russian troops near the border with Ukraine, Russia insists it has no plans to attack and has instead put forward its own demands for security guarantees. Biden has reacted to the Russian troop build-up by offering 3,000 American forces to bolster NATO’s eastern flank.

With German chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington, his foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, is in Kyiv along with her Czech, Slovak and Austrian counterparts for a two-day visit.

Chancellor Scholz himself will be in Moscow and Kyiv next week for talks with Putin and Zelensky.

Following which, visits to Moscow by the British foreign and defence secretaries are also expected at the end of this week.

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