After the talks, a summit in Paris to try to defuse the crisis

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news of the day

A European diplomatic meeting opened on Wednesday in Paris to seek to reduce tensions between Moscow and Kiev. Russian, Ukrainian, French and German negotiators met at midday in the French capital in the “Normandy” format (four-country diplomatic configuration) to try to defuse the crisis after a series of talks between Russians and Americans last week last. The meeting was still in progress around 3 p.m. and speeches by Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were expected in the afternoon.

Russia has multiplied military maneuvers in recent weeks, including on the Ukrainian borders with exercises started on Tuesday in the South and in Crimea. If Ukraine has been alarmed for weeks by an imminent invasion, it estimated on Wednesday that these troops were still “insufficient” to trigger a major attack against its territory.

sentence of the day

“We want a de-escalation, which requires both dialogue and deterrence”

“It is very encouraging that the Russians have agreed to enter into this diplomatic format, the only one in which the Russians are involved. This meeting will give a clear indication of the state of mind of the Russians, before the meeting on Friday between Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin”, estimated the Elysée a few minutes before the meeting. “We want a de-escalation, which requires both dialogue and deterrence,” added the French presidency.

The number of the day

100,000. This is the number of soldiers deployed by Russia on the Ukrainian borders. On Tuesday, Moscow began military exercises involving some 6,000 troops, fighter jets and bombers in the south and in Crimea, a peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.

The trend of the day

The United States still expects Russia to be able to “use military force” against Ukraine in some way, “perhaps” by mid-February, said US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday. The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, had previously affirmed that “if the West continues (on) its bellicose path”, Moscow would take “the necessary countermeasures” and denounced Western “hysteria” about to the supposed imminence of a Russian military intervention in Ukraine.

President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he could “conceive” of personally sanctioning Vladimir Putin, promising “enormous consequences” if Moscow attacked Ukraine, a decision that would “change the world”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov retorted on Wednesday that such sanctions would not be “politically painful” for the Russian head of state, although “destructive” for relations between Moscow and the West. “A dialogue is taking place on sanctions with European and American partners and the institutions”, explained the French presidency, specifying that possible “sanctions must not lead to aftershocks which would have a boomerang cost for us. Sanctions are not the be-all and end-all of the answer. »

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