President of France Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz had a talk with Putin that lasted 1.5 hours on Saturday, March 12. This was the second conversation in this format—on March 10, Macron and Scholz had a talk with Putin that lasted about an hour. The press was not informed about that conversation, but now the Elysee Palace decided to share information with the press.
Before calling the Kremlin, Macron spoke with the President of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated again that he was ready for negotiations with Putin; expressed concern about the fate of the kidnapped mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, and asked for assistance in his release.
Macron and Scholz talked about the fate of Fedorov with the master of the Kremlin. The Elysee did not report the result.
Commenting on Moscow’s official version of how this conversation went (they said that "numerous facts of the grossest violation of the norms of international humanitarian law by the Ukrainian security forces were cited: extrajudicial massacre of dissenters, taking hostages and using civilians as human shields, deploying heavy weapons in residential districts, near hospitals, schools, and kindergartens"), the Elysee Palace categorically stated: "This is a lie on the part of Russia."
Everything is exactly the opposite, the source recalled: what is happening in Mariupol, from the point of view of international law, "can be qualified as a crime." Macron and Scholz "clearly told Putin that this must be stopped."
This time, Putin did not use the term "denazification" in relation to Ukraine, the source noted.
At the same time, the President of the Russian Federation is still "determined" to "achieve the goals that he has set for himself" in Ukraine. When asked if he was ready to end the war, Putin clearly answered "No".
The Elysee Palace expressed fear that "the worst may be yet to come", including the use of chemical weapons and the expansion of the blockade of cities, including an attempt to capture Kyiv and further destruction of cities.
"We are exerting maximum pressure on him (Putin) and will not leave efforts to stop the war," the French President’s inner circle stated.
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