JAKARTA - The coming days will be pivotal in the impasse in the Russia-Ukraine crisis, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
President Putin said the first Moscow summit he had hosted with a Western leader since the Kremlin began deploying troops near its neighbor was substantive, but also a repeated warning about the threat of war if Ukraine joins NATO.
Russia, jostling for influence in post-Cold War Europe, wants security guarantees that include pledges not to deploy missiles near its borders and a reduction in NATO's military infrastructure.
Meanwhile, the West has said some of Russia's demands are "non-starters" but are willing to talk about arms control and confidence-building measures.
President Macron, who has been pushing for his diplomatic credentials as he sees re-election possible within two months, held more than five hours of talks over dinner on Monday with the Russian president.
"The next few days will be decisive and will require intensive discussions that we will have together," Macron said.
President Putin suggested some of President Macron's ideas could help defuse the crisis.
"A number of ideas, proposals, which may be too early to discuss, I think are very likely to be used as the basis for our next joint steps," he said.
It is planned that the two countries' leaders will speak again after Macron meets with Ukrainian leaders, scheduled for Tuesday.
Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, backing separatists in the east of the country, and has amassed more than 100,000 troops near the Ukrainian border.
It said it was not planning an invasion but could take unspecified military action if its security demands were not met.
Moscow sees the addition of the 14 new eastern European members of NATO since the Cold War ended three decades ago as a distraction to its sphere of influence and a threat to its security.
"If Ukraine joins NATO and tries to regain Crimea by military means, European countries will automatically be drawn into a military conflict with Russia," Putin said, speaking with great emphasis.
"There will be no winners," he insisted,
He urged Ukraine to abide by the Minsk agreement, which includes the goal of ending a Russian-speaking separatist war in the Donbass region.
President Macron said the independence of Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, with which Russia is involved in military exercises, should be maintained and he was confident of progress.
"Together, I believe we will get a result, although it will not be easy," said President Macron.
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