PARIS, February 17. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron has ignored Russian leader Vladimir Putin's statements on the need for negotiations on Ukraine and keeps repeating the narratives of NATO and the EU the conflict should go on, Thierry Mariani, a member of the European Parliament from France, has told TASS.

"France no longer has an independent foreign policy. It completely follows the NATO and EU countries that want to continue this war at all costs," Mariani said. "I think Macron just needs an excuse for the huge sums he is spending on Ukraine. That's why he repeats the NATO narrative and completely ignores Putin's statements."

Mariani noted that "no one in his right mind can seriously believe that anyone may attack France."

Nevertheless, the security cooperation agreement that Macron signed with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky precisely states that in the event of external military aggression against France Ukraine will be required to provide effective military assistance to Paris. Throughout the news conference after the signing ceremony Macron accused Russia several times of destabilization, cyberattacks and disinformation, saying he saw a desire for aggression against the EU on Moscow's part.

Earlier, Putin said in an interview with US journalist Tucker Carlson that Russia had never abandoned negotiations on Ukraine and recalled that a settlement agreement was ready in 2022, which Kiev rejected at the last minute on advice from its Western partners. He said that in order to resume the process, the Ukrainian authorities only needed to lift the ban signed by Zelensky on negotiating with the Russian leader and called on the Western countries to persuade the current Ukrainian authorities to take such a step.