TOURCOING
\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday he could visit Russia to discuss the crisis over Ukraine, adding his plans would depend on progress made in upcoming telephone talks with world leaders.
\nMacron said he would speak \u201cin the coming hours\u201d to his US counterpart Joe Biden about the crisis over Russia s deployment of some 100,000 troops close to the border with Ukraine.
\nHe said he would also keep up contacts with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
\n\u201cI do not exclude anything,\u201d Macron told reporters on a visit to Tourcoing in northern France on Wednesday, referring to the possibility of a trip to Russia to seek a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
\n\u201cThe most important thing is to firstly continue the European coordination and continue the exchanges with both President Putin and President Zelensky,\u201d Emmanuel Macron.
\n\u201cDepending on the progress of our discussions made in the coming hours, I do not exclude any initiative or journey,\u201d he said.
\nThe Russian troop build-up close to the border with eastern Ukraine has raised Western fears the Kremlin is planning to invade its pro-EU neighbour.
\nRussia denies it plans to invade but has demanded wide-ranging security guarantees from the West, including that Ukraine never be allowed to join NATO.
\n\u201cI am very concerned about the situation on the ground,\u201d the French president said on the sidelines of a meeting of EU interior ministers.
\n\u201cThe priority for me on the Ukrainian question and dialogue with Russia is a de-escalation and finding the political terms for a way out of the crisis.\u201d
\nMacron had said this week that Russia was behaving as a \u201cpower of disequilibrium\u201d in the region \u2014 but had also made clear he was open to dialogue with Moscow to deescalate the situation.
\nThe French president has over the last years maintained that Europe must keep channels open to talk with Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOURCOING French President Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday he could visit Russia to discuss the crisis over Ukraine, adding his plans would depend on progress made in upcoming telephone talks with world leaders. Macron said he would speak \u201cin the coming hours\u201d to his US counterpart Joe Biden about the crisis over Russia s deployment of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-242448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n