MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Russia does not associate the sequence of Western officials’ visits to Russia and Ukraine with any political signals or any positions of the Western states, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Wednesday.
When asked by a reporter to comment whether Moscow sees French President Emmanuel Macron’s actions as an attempt to re-establish a dialogue with Russia, since, unlike German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, he first visited Russia and then Ukraine, Zakharova said that "it is not worth considering the issue in this context."
"Well, prior to that, [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken traveled to the region visiting one country and not the other, but he met with our minister (Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov - TASS) in Geneva. It is the third configuration of the negotiation process. No, we definitely won’t look at it that way," the diplomat said. "As for the position of France and President Macron seeking to normalize relations with Russia, you should have no doubts since at least there have been plenty of verbal statements."
However, Zakharova pointed out that Moscow sees "the Elysee Palace’s obvious attempt to make efforts so that the Russian-French dialogue can go on."
On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron held lengthy talks in Moscow, focusing on Ukraine. The next day, the French president visited Kiev. After talks with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, Macron plans to hold another round of talks with Putin over the phone.
On Monday, Ukraine was also in the spotlight of US President Joe Biden’s meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Washington.