Calling President Macron: President Putin Emphasizes Ukraine, Asks France To Stop Media Discrimination

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin stressed the possibility of discussing the Ukraine issue in Normandy format, the situation in Ukraine and asked France to stop discriminating against Russian media, while speaking with President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday.

Moscow, which has surprised the West with its troop buildup near Ukraine, last week unveiled a wish list of security proposals it wants to negotiate, including a NATO pledge to halt any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

"The Russian president stressed that the possibility of holding a new summit in the Normandy format also depends on the concrete steps of the Kyiv authorities to implement the Minsk Package of actions," the Kremlin said in a statement.

It was a set of treaties designed to end a Russian-speaking separatist war in eastern Ukraine. They were signed in Minsk in 2014 and 2015. The 'Normandy Format' talks between Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine were designed to resolve the crisis.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin did not provide further details on the discussions surrounding Mali. In November, Russia dismissed French concerns about a potential deal between Mali and a private Russian military contractor and said it planned to continue supplying Mali with weapons, military hardware, and ammunition.

At the same time, President Putin "expressed the hope that the Russian channel will be given the same opportunity to operate without discrimination as the French media enjoys in Russia," He said this related to RT.

Launched in 2005 as 'Russia Today', the state-funded RT has grown with broadcasters and websites in languages including English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.

Quoting Ahram from AFP, in France, RT has long been accused by authorities and news organizations of being the Kremlin's propaganda wing. Journalists complain that they have not been granted official accreditation to cover the Elysee (French Presidential Palace).

While in the United States, RT has been required to register as a "foreign agent", while in the UK authorities have threatened to revoke its broadcasting license. Lithuania and Latvia, both former Soviet states on the Russian border, have banned the channel.

This week, YouTube blocked a new RT channel after removing German channels networks RT DE and Der Fehlende Part earlier this year.