Kremlin does not expect a decisive change from Putin-Macron meeting

Russia does not expect any decisive breakthrough from the talks set to take place today between Russia's President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the Kremlin said.

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told a briefing today that it is expected that Macron will propose ways during his Russia visit to ease tensions in Europe.

Macron's visit is mainly a diplomatic move to defuse the situation with Ukraine, amid NATO's attempts to expand eastward in Europe. He will then move on to visit Kyiv on Tuesday.

"The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting," Peskov said, adding that Russia was aware of certain ideas meant to lower tensions that Macron had spoken about before.

Peskov also emphasized that it was not possible to talk about a decrease in tensions as Western governments continue to bring up reports of a looming Russian attack on Ukraine.

Moscow, he said, has not received any new replies on the security guarantees it requested from the West, "our Western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic".