Macron and Putin discuss Kerch Strait incident
French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Ukraine and the Kerch crisis in a phone call, the official Kremlin website reports.
Putin told the press service that he and Macron had continued the “exchange of opinions” on the topic, but did not provide any further details on the discussion.
The two presidents also considered the problems of the Syrian situation in detail.
According to a communique from the Élysée Palace, Macron welcomed the ceasefire agreements reached in the Donbas on December 27, 2018, to renew the ceasefire, and called for complete and persistent compliance with them. The French president also urged Putin to release as soon as possible the detained Ukrainian sailors and return the ships that were captured on November 25, 2018, near the Kerch Strait.
At the end of December, Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded that Russia immediately and unconditionally release the captured Ukrainian sailors and ensure unobstructed passage through the strait.
The Russian Foreign Ministry called Merkel and Macron’s demand “unacceptable”. State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin advised the French and German leaders to “sort out their own situation at home before making such comments to other countries”.
24 Ukrainian sailors were captured by Russian naval forces on November 25. On November 30, the Ukrainians were transferred to Moscow. Russia has completely ignored the demands of Ukraine and the international community for their release.