Macron talked with Biden on the phone to discuss the situation in Ukraine before his visit to Russia

Original title: macron talked with Biden on the phone to discuss the situation in Ukraine before his visit to Russia
Macron talked with Biden on the phone to discuss the situation in Ukraine before his visit to Russia
Chen Lixi
French President macron went to Russia on the 7th and will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the situation in Ukraine and other issues. The day before departure, macron had a telephone conversation with US President Biden to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
This is the second telephone conversation between French and US leaders on the situation in Ukraine this month.
The French presidential palace announced that macron and Biden "coordinated their positions" in a 40 minute call. The White House said in a statement that Biden and macron discussed diplomatic and deterrent measures against Russia and reiterated their support for Ukraine.
After his visit to Russia, macron is scheduled to go to Ukraine on the 8th to meet with Ukrainian President Zelensky. Reuters said macron had put a lot of political capital on this series of diplomatic activities, which would be extremely embarrassing if he "returned empty handed".
France took over the rotating presidency of the European Council from January 1 for half a year.
In recent days, macron and Putin talked on the phone three times on the situation in Ukraine and other issues. He also communicated and coordinated with German Chancellor Scholtz, British Prime Minister Johnson, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Stoltenberg, Ukrainian President Zelensky and leaders of the Baltic States.
Reuters quoted people close to macron as saying that one of the goals of macron's visit is to buy time and "freeze" the situation for several months, at least until the European "super April" election month. At that time, Hungary, Slovenia and France will hold general elections.
Macron has not officially announced whether to run for president. "For President [macron], this is an opportunity to show his leadership in Europe," said a French government source
Macron said in a previous media interview that "we need to be realistic" and "it is extremely necessary" to avoid the deterioration of the situation.
According to Reuters, some Eastern European countries criticized macron for not being tough enough with Russia and worried that he would negotiate with Putin on a "new European security border".
On the 6 day of the conversation between mark long and Biden, French Foreign Minister Lud Leon spoke with US Secretary of state brin to discuss the efforts made by NATO, the European Union, the G-7 and other partner countries on the Ukraine issue.
In addition, German Chancellor Scholtz is scheduled to visit the United States on the 7th and will discuss the situation in Ukraine and other topics with Biden. He will also visit Ukraine and Russia on the 14th and 15th, respectively.
Recently, Ukraine and Russia have deployed a large number of military personnel and equipment in the border areas of the two countries.
The United States, Ukraine and NATO said that Russia had gathered heavy troops near the eastern border of Ukraine and had the potential of "invasion". The Biden administration announced that it would send more troops to Europe to deal with the tension in the Ukrainian Russian border area. Britain and France also said they were ready to send more troops to Eastern Europe to support NATO allies.
Russia denied the "invasion" and stressed that NATO activities threatened the security of Russia's border and that Russia has the right to mobilize troops within its territory to defend its territory. (end) (special feature of Xinhua News Agency)