Russian President Vladimir Putin “is not going to end the war in Ukraine” or “grant a ceasefire.” It was the result of a very tough and “difficult” 75-minute conversation on Saturday with his French colleague Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Putin denounced “human rights violations” in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.
The ceasefire was mandatory to continue with the negotiations, according to the French and German proposal.
Ukraine does not accept any kind of negotiation with Moscow that does not start with a ceasefire.
“The conversation began at 12 noon in France and ended before 2:00 p.m.,” the Elysee Palace said.
Macron asked Putin to end the war in Ukraine. (Xinhua)
A conversation of three
One day after the EU summit at the Palace of Versailles, where the Europeans did not accept the immediate incorporation of Ukraine, this time the conversation was in a trio. Just as the 17th day of the Russian invasion of its neighbor Ukraine was fulfilled.
Scholz and Macron called on Putin to accept “an immediate ceasefire” in the conflict with Ukraine, during the latest phone call.
Macron called on Putin to lift the siege of the port city of Mariupol, where the bodies have been on the street for days without being able to be collected, and the population has been without water and electricity for more than a week.
“The talk is part of ongoing international efforts to end the war in Ukraine,” a spokesman for Scholz said. But he noted that the participants agreed not to say anything more about the precise details of the discussions.
Scholz had previously spoken with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy “about the situation,” the German spokesman added.
The Kremlin version
Meanwhile, the Kremlin said Putin had criticized what it called a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law by Ukrainian forces.
According to Moscow, the Russian president “listed extrajudicial killings of opponents, taking civilians hostage, their use as human shields and the displacement of heavy weapons in residential areas, in the vicinity of hospitals, schools and kindergartens.”
The Russian president also accused Ukrainian “nationalist battalions” “of systematically disrupting rescue and privacy operations for civilians trying to evacuate combat zones.”
“Vladimir Putin has urged Macron and Scholtz to influence the Kiev authorities so that they put an end to these criminal actions,” according to the Kremlin.
“Putin briefed them on the real state of affairs,” his office said in a statement. “In particular, numerous acts of flagrant violation of the norms of international humanitarian law by the Ukrainian security forces were cited,” the statement said.
“Lies”, according to Eliseo
The French Presidency considered that Vladimir Putin’s accusations of “flagrant violations of human rights in Ukraine” are “lies” and that the Mariupol siege is “humanly unsustainable”.
After learning of the Russian statement, the French presidency revealed the details of the call between the three leaders.
He described it as a “difficult conversation.” Macron and Scholtz proposed a ceasefire and an end to hostilities, before beginning a structured discussion on next moves.
“Putin has no desire to end the war in Ukraine,” the Elysee Palace said.
Sanctions equal to those applied to Iran
The next steps will be European sanctions against Russia, which will be very tough. They will be analyzed “in the coming days by the members of the EU.” Russia prepares sanctions against western personalities.
These European sanctions are going to include the latest developments in the war, such as the kidnapping of the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Federov, by a Russian command because he refused to “collaborate with the enemy” and the bombing of the pediatric wing of the hospital in Mariupol, where the humanitarian situation is catastrophic after the Russian siege.
A demonstration of more than a hundred people challenged the Russian occupation in Melitopol and came to the mayor’s office to ask for his release, because he is accused of “terrorism”.
The kidnapping, according to Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky said Russia should “be ashamed” of this kidnapping. The act was recorded by CCTV cameras and shared on social networks.
“The arrest of the mayor of Melitopol is a crime against democracy,” warned the Ukrainian president. “They killed a mayor and now they have captured another. That means that all the mayors, no matter how many cities the Russian forces enter, if they do not confirm their collaboration, they will be assassinated. This is simple terrorism”, denounced the president of Ukraine.
“A human being captured. They are not ashamed of the video. They take him to a cell, torture him, and then kill him. The leaders of Germany and France must be in contact with Putin to release the mayor,” the Ukrainian president demanded.
The EU considers that Putin is violating international law with the kidnapping of a civilian in Ukraine, who was carrying out the functions for which he was elected.
The nuclear deal with Iran in the middle
European sanctions will be “Iranian-style” to corner Putin and isolate him from the international community.
When the world needs to lower the prices of oil and gas, stratospheric after the conflict, the nuclear agreement between Iran, a large producer of hydrocarbons in the midst of this crisis but sanctioned, with the United States is essential.
This Saturday the spokesmen for France, Germany and Great Britain in the agreement denounced that the talks in Vienna “have been postponed”, when the agreement was about to be concluded and the sanctions on Iran could have been lifted and cheap oil could have been obtained for the world.
The dispute was between the United States and Iran. Russia and China were part of the P5 group that signed the agreement.
Western Europe is dependent on Russian oil and coal. The German economy minister, environmentalist Robert Habeck, said today that Germany “will be independent of Russian coal in the European autumn and of Russian oil at the end of the year.”
Two intelligence chiefs detained by Putin?
According to the British newspaper The Times, two Russian spymasters from the FSB, which replaced the KGB, are under house arrest. They are Sergey Besesa, 68, head of the foreign section of the FSB services, and his deputy, Anatoly Bolyukh, 66.
According to Andrei Soldatov, the co-founder of the Agentura research site, the pre-invasion FSB reports would have been “false” and would have “underestimated the potential risks to the army and the degree of Ukrainian resistance”.
“The chances of success would have been terribly miscalculated. Putin would have understood that he would have been misled ”Andrei Soldatov told The Times. This is the first fracture observed in the Russian intelligence services since the beginning of the invasion with the regime.
