France Says Putin Is Moving Towards De-Escalating Ukraine Crisis (FT)

An FT article notes that "French officials said Vladimir Putin had moved towards de-escalating the Ukraine crisis by promising not to undertake any new “military initiatives” and agreeing to withdraw thousands of Russian troops from Belarus after the completion of planned exercises. If the agreement — brokered during talks with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Monday — is confirmed by Putin it could ease tensions in the region after Russia amassed more than 100,000 troops on Ukraine’s borders. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the Financial Times that Putin and Macron were “prepared to continue dialogue” on the French proposals but that the discussions had yet to fully assuage Moscow’s concerns. “All these subjects require agreement from France’s EU and Nato allies, first and foremost the US,” Peskov said. “It’s too early to speak about anything else.” Neither Putin nor Macron referred directly to such a deal at a news conference after five hours of talks on Monday, although France’s president said his Russian counterpart had assured him of his willingness to talk about de-escalation."