The participants “were all of the opinion that it is up to Russia to undertake visible initiatives of de-escalation” in this conflict, indicated the spokesman of the German chancellor Olaf Scholz, at the end of this meeting in which the latter participated in particular with the leaders of the United States, France, Great Britain, Italy and Poland.
The holding of this videoconference had been announced a little earlier in the day by the White House at a time when certain differences seem to appear within the Western camp on the attitude to adopt towards Russia.
This concerns in particular Berlin, much criticized by Ukraine for its refusal in particular to deliver weapons, even defensive ones, unlike the United States, Great Britain or the Baltic countries.
Similarly, the countries of the European Union have not yet decreed the departure of part of their diplomatic personnel from Ukraine, while Washington and London have made announcements to this effect.
During their videoconference, in which the Secretary General of NATO also participated, Western leaders expressed their “great concern” at the regrouping of Russian troops on the eastern border of Ukraine and accused Moscow of being at the origin of “current tensions”, according to the press release from Berlin.
Nevertheless, they considered that “the issue of security and stability in Europe could be resolved through negotiation”.
They “reaffirmed their readiness to continue diplomatic efforts in this direction”, undertaken during the month of January with several meetings between Western and Russian officials. No visible success, however, so far.
The leaders notably mentioned the so-called Normandy format discussions, which bring together representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France.