The Eiffel Tower in Paris. File photoMOSCOW, Feb. 14France and the United States interpret the presence of Russian troops near the borders of Ukraine differently, according to the Figaro newspaper, citing a source in the Elysee Palace. In his opinion, if the White House has been almost two months speaks of the inevitability of an attack on Ukraine, the Elysee Palace is more cautious in this regard.
"In what Vladimir Putin says, we see no signs that he will go on the offensive", the source said after telephone conversation between the leaders of Russia and France, held on Saturday.
Another diplomatic source told the newspaper that Macron, in a personal meeting in Moscow on February 7, faced a tougher Vladimir Putin — not like the one he received at Fort Bregançon in 2019. Figaro's source said that the Russian leader repeatedly returned «to the pre-NATO days of Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in 1997″.The Kremlin hopes that Europe will stop following the US guidelinesThe talks between Putin and Macron in the Kremlin went on for more than five hours. Saturday's telephone conversation lasted 1 hour and 40 minutes. The West accuses the Russian Federation of alleged plans to escalate the situation around Ukraine. Moscow categorically denies this and constantly states that no one is threatened with anything, and all such statements are used as an excuse to deploy more NATO military equipment near Russian borders. As Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier, Russia does not create any pretexts for a conflict situation around Ukraine. According to him, Russia does not rule out that the hysteria around Ukraine, hyped by the West, is aimed at covering Kiev's line of sabotaging the Minsk agreements on Donbass. According to the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov, the information hysteria of the USA and NATO on Ukraine is generously framed by lies and fakes. measures», but for some reason punishes Ukraine