MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed over the phone the Russian draft treaty on security guarantees, the Kremlin press service reported on Tuesday.
"The discussion of issues to strengthen stability and security on the European continent has been continued. In this context, the focus was on documents between Moscow and Washington on security guarantees and draft agreement on security guarantees and measures ensuring the security between Russia and NATO member states, which was handed to the relevant sides, including the French one, and then was released," the statement reads.
"Vladimir Putin informed about the work being conducted by Russian diplomats on this matter," the Kremlin added.
While discussing the Ukrainian issue, Putin told Macron that the possibility of holding a new summit in the Normandy format depends on Kiev’s implementation of the Minsk-2 agreement. The difficult situation in the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict caused by Kiev’s unwillingness to implement the Minsk agreements was also discussed. The Russian president pointed out that the possibility of holding a new summit in the Normandy format also depends on the specific steps of the Kiev authorities to implement the Minsk package of measures," the statement says.
The previous phone conversation between Putin and Macron took place at the initiative of the French side on December 14. The leaders exchanged opinions on measures undertaken to combat the coronavirus and also discussed pressing international issues, including the migration crisis on the Belarusian-EU border, the Ukrainian situation, and the NATO non-expansion eastward, and Karabakh.