Russian President Vladimir Putin is “ready for dialogue” with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, provided there is the necessary political will, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said overnight from Saturday to Sunday Dec. 21, speaking to the Russian state news agency RIA.
Peskov was responding to comments by President Macron following a European Union summit, in which the French leader said he was willing to speak with Putin. “In this regard, it may be important to recall what the Russian president said at the major press conference he gave on Friday—that he is ready to engage in dialogue with Macron,” Peskov explained.
“If there is mutual political will, this can only be viewed positively,” the Kremlin spokesman added, according to the agency.
Peskov was referring to remarks Macron made in the early hours of Friday morning in Brussels, after the conclusion of the EU summit at which the bloc agreed on a 90 billion euros loan package for Ukraine to cover its financing needs over the next two years.
“I think it could once again be useful to speak with Vladimir Putin,” Macron told reporters.
“I note that there are some who are speaking with Vladimir Putin,” he added, an apparent reference to his U.S. counterpart, Donald Trump.
For this reason, Macron argued that Europeans and Ukrainians share an interest in establishing a framework to restart the discussion, cautioning that failure to do so would leave them isolated from the negotiations, which could proceed solely between Russian representatives and a limited set of negotiators—an outcome he suggested would be far from ideal.
