Overview
- After an informal EU summit in Belgium, Emmanuel Macron said a conversation with Vladimir Putin is not a matter for the coming days.
- He emphasized that any outreach must be prepared between Europeans and coordinated with Ukraine.
- France dispatched a diplomatic adviser to Moscow in early February to lay technical groundwork for possible contacts.
- Macron said inviting Russian representatives to any G7 meetings in France is not on the agenda unless the war ends.
- He urged restoring a European role in dialogue and called the current US-led negotiation framework not optimal, as Russia’s Foreign Ministry publicly minimized his initiative.