Overview
- President Emmanuel Macron said on January 6 that he intends to speak with Vladimir Putin as soon as possible in a France 2 interview.
- An anonymous French diplomatic source told TASS that Paris has not begun preparing leader-level contacts, though such a conversation is not ruled out.
- The same French source said Paris is ready for dialogue with Moscow through bilateral or multilateral diplomatic channels.
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov dismissed Macron’s repeated statements as publicity-driven and said no serious proposals have been received from Paris.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated the Kremlin will announce if it receives a formal proposal for talks between the French and Russian leaders.