pro russian separatists in the east of ukraine. the kremlin spokesman said that s something that the, president putin s diplomatic representative from the russian presidency will raise tomorrow in paris with the ukrainian representative, and the german and french representative at the normandy format talks. this is talks that began seven years ago to get over the, russia s initial invasion of ukraine in 2014. it deals with the so-called minsk two agreement. this seems to be an area where the president thinks he might get some concessions. this is a potential opportunity. because france and germany, who will sit at the table as well, do not have quite as strong a position as the u.k., for
from france, uk, and nato is unity, right? reporter: unity and strength and preparedness to react should anything further happen, kim. but there is this deep belief on the part of the french president that there is still room for diplomacy, so moscow and then kyiv to meet with the leaders here in order to try and pursue those conversations and focus attentions back on those 94 tht normandy format talks, the latest on the minsk agreement, try and find a solution to the question of the what s happening in eastern ukraine. those talks will continue this week. what emmanuel macron hopes is by focusing the minds of everyone back into this format, back onto the possibility of discussions, he can take some of that heat out of the debate and that buildup that s been going around across the border. you re quite right, those intelligence assessments paint an alarming picture on the part of the united states with officials really looking at a number of scenarios of how
explained that what he had obtained from moscow and he said this just now in the press conference was a guarantee that putin would not be behind any further escalation. that is a slight nuance. and yet, the french president explains the extent to which he believes this is progress, a step in the right direction, some kind of engagement on the part of vladimir putin. two concessions he spoke of clearly, vladimir putin says he will not be behind any kind of further escalation. and also a promise he will withdraw from belarus when those giant military exercises come to an end. emmanuel macron believes these are important concessions and believes, jim, that the conversation can now continue on to the basis of two things. first of all, progress on the normandy format talks on what is happening on the front line in the east of ukraine, but perhaps more importantly this is where the french presidency feel they have made some progress, the idea of a new conversation about a new security order
i do think russians like seeing their leader as a strong - figure on the world stage, and he has achieved that. by this military build up. he has gotten the - attention of the west. he has managed to then get nato to sit down with him. he has restarted this . normandy format talks on the situation in eastern ukraine. in that sense, there - is support for his actions, but a full scale military invasion, i don t see that. thomas, do you think war can be avoided? i think putin knows how unconscionable the consequences would be if he invades. i think he calculates quite well the risks he is running, so i think he would step away from that threat. he makes blustery noises to convince the west he has sensitivities that need to be satisfied, but i don t think in reality he is planning to occupy.