Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron. The Russian President stressed that it was unacceptable to make unsubstantiated and ungrounded accusations against Russia in this context. As the Kremlin press service reported on Monday, the conversation between the two presidents took place at the initiative of the French side.
"The presidents had an in-depth discussion on the Navalny case. Vladimir Putin pointed out that it was unacceptable to make unsubstantiated and ungrounded accusations against Russia in this context," the message reports.
According to the press service of the Russian leader, "to establish the real circumstances of the incident, German specialists must send to Russia the biomaterials and an official statement on the test results of the samples collected from Alexei Navalny, and must start working together with Russian doctors."
"It has been agreed to contribute towards determining the parameters of possible interaction with European partners to this end," the report concludes.
Situation in Belarus
The presidents of Russia and France expressed interest in the speedy normalization of the situation in Belarus.
"During the exchange of views on the developments in Belarus, Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Russia’s position of principle on the inadmissibility of any attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of that sovereign state or to put external pressure on the legitimate authorities. Both sides expressed interest in the soonest possible normalisation in Belarus and a peaceful settlement of the crisis through a constructive dialogue," the message reads.
The conversation between the Russian leader and his French counterpart took place shortly before Putin's talks with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, which are currently taking place in Sochi.
Libyan issues
Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron also discussed the settlement in Libya in a telephone conversation.
"When exchanging views on Libya, the presidents noted the importance of continuing joint efforts to implement the decisions of the Berlin conference adopted in January 2020 and formalised in UN Security Council Resolution 2510.
Participants of the conference on the Libyan settlement held in Berlin in early 2020 called for a ceasefire in the final document, pledged to refrain from intervention, proposed creating a unified government and starting reforms to restore statehood lost after the NATO intervention in 2011.
The Minsk agreement
Kiev is trying to interpret the agreements according to its own liking and to selectively implement its own obligations, including those assumed within the Normandy format, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a telephone conversation.
"The presidents also discussed the internal Ukrainian conflict and expressed concern over the lack of progress in the implementation of the 2015 Minsk agreements as the only basis for a settlement," the message of the Kremlin press service reads.
The Kremlin noted that "Putin paid special attention to Kiev’s attempts to interpret the agreements according to its own liking and to selectively implement its own obligations, including those assumed within the Normandy format".
The so-called Normandy format of negotiations on Ukraine has existed since June 2014. Then, during the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the allied landings in Normandy, the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany for the first time discussed the settlement of the conflict in the Donbass. Currently, the peace process is based on the Minsk agreements reached at the end of the Quartet summit in February 2015. They involve not only a cease-fire, withdrawal of weapons, amnesty, resumption of economic ties, but also deep constitutional reform in Ukraine. Recently, representatives of Kiev have stated that the Minsk agreements need to be modernized.
The last Normandy four summit was held in Paris on December 9 last year.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS