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French President Emmanuel Macron said from the White House that he will continue to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Ukraine conflict, seeking "non-escalation" and "concrete things."
His comments came Thursday in the framework of an official visit to the U.S. running from November 29 to December 2. Macron and his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden held talks at the White House today.
At a press conference following the talks, the French President said, "I will continue to talk to President Putin. We have already discussed it with Biden today because we have always sought to avoid escalation and to achieve quite concrete things."
For his part, the U.S. President expressed his willingness to talk to Putin about the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict in case "there is in fact an interest in him deciding that he is looking for a way to end the war." Biden added that he has "no immediate plans to contact Mr. Putin."
According to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, no conversation between the Russian President and his French counterpart has been agreed so far.
Looking forward to a productive day with President Macron, Mrs. Macron, and the French delegation. pic.twitter.com/EvMikKG9ov
— President Biden (@POTUS) December 1, 2022
The French and U.S. presidents agreed to continue to support the Ukrainian side amid the ongoing conflict with Russia. Their support includes the continued "provision of political, security, humanitarian and economic assistance to Ukraine for as long as necessary."
They also intend to "urge international financial institutions to increase their financial support," according to a joint statement adopted at Thursday's Macron-Biden meeting.
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