MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. Moscow welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron’s mediation efforts aimed at resolving the situation in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Russian and foreign media outlets on Thursday.

"I would like to reiterate that we welcome Mr. Macron’s mediation efforts. President Putin has repeatedly explained to him how we view possible ways out of this situation and if President Macron helps convince Mr. Zelensky so that he would stop being torn between NATO and the EU, also trying to talk about negotiations," Lavrov said in response to a question from a French reporter.

He also noted that Macron and his predecessor had facilitated the Normandy Four platform where the Minsk Agreements had been adopted. "However, after they had been signed and approved by the UN Security Council, neither France nor Germany did anything to make Ukraine implement the accords. On the contrary, they started saying that Ukraine did not have to fulfill the agreements but Russia did, adding that there should not be a direct dialogue between Kiev and Donetsk, as well as between Kiev and Lugansk, because it’s all a sham and in fact, Russia is to blame," Lavrov emphasized.