MOSCOW (AP) \u2014 International efforts to defuse the standoff over Ukraine intensified Monday, with French President Emmanuel Macron holding talks in Moscow and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington to coordinate policies as fears of a Russian invasion mounted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The buildup of an estimated 100,000 Russian troops near Ukraine has fueled Western worries of a possible offensive. White House national security adviser\u00a0Jake Sullivan warned Sunday\u00a0that Russia could invade Ukraine \u201cany day,\u201d triggering a conflict that would come at an \u201cenormous human cost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia has denied any plans to attack its neighbor but demands that the U.S. and its allies bar Ukraine and other former Soviet nations from joining NATO, halt weapons deployments there and roll back NATO forces from Eastern Europe. Washington and NATO reject those demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macron called for de-escalation as he sat down for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. \u201cDialogue is necessary because that\u2019s the only thing that will help, in my views, to build a context of a security and stability on the European continent,\u201d Macron said, calling the discussion a possible first step toward de-escalation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy to have this opportunity to have a deep discussion on all these issues … and to start building an effective response,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putin, in turn, hailed France\u2019s role in shaping European security and noted that their talks came on a day when the countries signed a friendship treaty 30 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI realize that we share concern about what\u2019s going on in Europe in the security sphere,\u201d Putin told Macron, adding that he appreciates his efforts to help ensure \u201can equal security in Europe\u201d and broker a settlement to the Ukrainian crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Macron, who heads Tuesday to Ukraine, spoke by phone Sunday with U.S. President Joe Biden on \u201congoing diplomatic and deterrence efforts,\u201d according to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Before the meeting, Macron said: \u201cI don\u2019t believe in spontaneous miracles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe security and sovereignty of Ukraine or any other European state cannot be a subject for compromise, while it is also legitimate for Russia to pose the question of its own security,\u201d Macron said in an interview with French newspaper Journal du Dimanche, adding he believes \u201cthe geopolitical objective of Russia today is clearly not Ukraine, but to clarify the rules of cohabitation with NATO and the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putin\u2019s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, described the visit as \u201cvery important,\u201d but sought to temper expectations, saying \u201cthe situation is too complex to expect a decisive breakthrough after just one meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He noted that \u201cthe atmosphere has remained tense,\u201d adding that the U.S. and its allies have continued to ignore Moscow\u2019s security demands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Continuing the high-level diplomacy, Scholz is to meet with Biden later Monday in Washington before traveling to Kyiv and Moscow on Feb. 14-15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sullivan, the national security adviser, reiterated Sunday that the Russian Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to Germany \u201cwill not move forward\u201d if Russia attacks Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden and Scholz are expected to address the pipeline during their their first face-to-face meeting since Scholz became the head of the German government nearly two months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ahead of the visit, the White House sought to play down Germany\u2019s refusal to supply lethal weapons to Ukraine, bolster its troops in Eastern Europe or spell out which sanctions it would support against Russia \u2014 a cautious stand that has drawn criticism abroad and inside Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
White House officials, who briefed reporters ahead of the meeting on the condition of anonymity, noted that Germany has been a top contributor of nonmilitary aid to Ukraine and has been supportive of the U.S. decision to bolster its troop presence in Poland and Romania to demonstrate its commitment to NATO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said Monday it will add up to 350 troops within a few days to about 500 already a part of a NATO battlegroup in Lithuania. \u201cWith this, we are strengthening our contribution to forces on NATO\u2019s eastern flank and sending a very clear signal of unity to our allies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain said it was sending 350 troops to Poland to bolster NATO forces, joining 100 Royal Engineers already there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Biden already has deployed additional U.S. troops to Poland, Romania and Germany, and a few dozen elite U.S troops and equipment landed Sunday in southeastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, with hundreds more infantry troops of the 82nd Airborne Division set to arrive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal for eastern Ukraine in a bid to end the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists that erupted the previous year following the Russian annexation of Ukraine\u2019s Crimean Peninsula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The agreement signed in the Belarusian capital of Minsk helped stop large-scale fighting, but efforts at a political settlement have stalled and frequent skirmishes have continued along the tense line of contact in Ukraine\u2019s industrial heartland known as the Donbas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany last met in Paris in 2019 in the so-called Normandy format summit, but they failed to resolve the main issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amid tensions over the Russian military buildup, presidential advisers from the four countries met in Paris on Jan. 26 but didn\u2019t make any visible progress and agreed to meet again in Berlin in two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pushed for another four-way Normandy summit, but the Kremlin said such a meeting would only make sense if the parties agree on the next steps to give special status to the rebel east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Putin and his officials have urged France, Germany and other Western allies to encourage Ukraine to fulfill its obligations under the 2015 agreement, which envisaged a broad autonomy for the Donbas region and a sweeping amnesty for the separatists. The agreement stipulated that only after those conditions are met would Ukraine be able to restore control of its border with Russia in rebel regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Minsk deal was seen by many Ukrainians as a betrayal of national interests, and its implementation has stalled. During the latest tensions, Ukrainian authorities have warned the West against pressuring Ukraine to implement the agreement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine\u2019s National Security and Defense Council, told The Associated Press that an attempt by Ukraine to fulfil the Minsk deal could trigger internal unrest that would play into Moscow\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the country has received more than 1,000 metric tons of weapons and military supplies from its allies, noting that a series of visits by Western officials has helped deter Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is visiting Kyiv Monday and will head to the area near the line of contact, following visits there by her counterparts from Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The British government said Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will visit Moscow on Thursday and Defense Secretary Ben Wallace will meet Friday with his Russian counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
__<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Nomaan Merchant in Washington, Yuras Karmanau in Kyiv, Ukraine, Geir Moulson in Berlin and Jill Lawless in London contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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