French President Emmanuel Macron will head to Kyiv after offering Russia "concrete security guarantees" in an effort to dissuade Moscow from invading its neighbour Ukraine, with Russia's leader vowing to find compromise in response.
Mr Macron's visit comes during a week of intense Western diplomacy amid a major Russian military buildup on its southwestern frontier that has raised fears it could soon march into Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin told Mr Macron Moscow would "do everything to find compromises that suit everyone", raising the prospect of a path to de-escalating the volatile situation.
Mr Putin said several proposals put forward by Mr Macron at talks on Monday could form a basis for moving forward on the crisis over Ukraine.
French president Emmanuel Macron (left) and Russian president Vladimir Putin at a joint press conference in Moscow on 8 February 2022. Source: SPUTNIK POOL/Sergey Guneev
"A number of his ideas, proposals... are possible as a basis for further steps," Mr Putin said after more than five hours of talks in the Kremlin.
He did not provide any details but said the two leaders would speak by phone after Mr Macron meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The French president said he had made proposals of "concrete security guarantees" to Mr Putin.
"President Putin assured me of his readiness to engage in this sense and his desire to maintain stability and the territorial integrity of Ukraine," Mr Macron said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin (left) and French president Emmanuel Macron (right) meet in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 7 February 2022. Source: Sputnik
"There is no security for the Europeans if there is no security for Russia," he added.
The French presidency said the proposals include an engagement from both sides not to take any new military action, the launching of a new strategic dialogue and efforts to revive the peace process in Kyiv's conflict with Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
With tensions soaring between Moscow and Ukraine and its allies, Mr Macron was the first top Western leader to meet Mr Putin since the crisis began in December.
Continued conflict
Mr Putin denied that Russia was acting aggressively towards Ukraine or the West, saying "it is not us who are moving towards NATO's borders".
If Ukraine joins the Western military bloc, Russia could get sucked into a conflict with European countries, he added.
"Do you want France to go to war with Russia?" Mr Putin said.
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, has expressed a desire for closer ties with the West and membership of the NATO military alliance that sought to contain Moscow and its Communist allies during the Cold War.
Mr Putin has complained that NATO's eastward expansion following the end of the Cold War has undermined Russia's security.
The Russian leader said Ukrainian authorities were to blame for the continued conflict in the country's east, home to pro-Russian breakaway enclaves which have previously seen fierce fighting between separatists and Ukrainian forces.
According to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 50.2 per cent of Ukrainians would resist in case of a Russian military intervention. Source: EPA
"Kyiv still rejects every opportunity for a peaceful restoration of its territorial integrity," Mr Putin said.
Nord Stream 2 warning
In Washington, US President Joe Biden warned Mr Putin that he would "end" the controversial new Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Europe if Moscow sends forces across the Ukrainian border as it did during the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
"If Russia invades - that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again - then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2," Biden told a joint White House news conference with Scholz on Monday.
"I promise you," Mr Biden said, "we will bring an end to it."
Mr Biden's declaration was the bluntest so far on the fate of the massive pipeline, which is complete but has yet to begin funnelling natural gas to Germany, tying energy-hungry Europe ever closer to Russia.
Russian tanks conduct field firing at the Kadamovsky Range in the Rostov region near the border with Ukraine. Source: AAP
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, visiting Mr Biden, was less direct and said only that Berlin was "united" with Washington, but declined to mention the pipeline by name.
Mr Scholz himself will be in Moscow and Kyiv next week for talks with Putin and Zelensky.
US officials say Moscow has assembled 110,000 troops near the border with Ukraine and is on track to amass a large enough force - some 150,000 soldiers - for a full-scale invasion by mid-February.
Russia insists it has no plans to attack and has instead put forward its own demands for security guarantees.
