OREANDA-NEWS. Presidents of Russia and France Vladimir Putin and Emmanuel Macron held telephone conversations on Friday, January 28. According to the Kremlin's press service, the parties discussed the issue of providing the Russian Federation with long-term, legally secured security guarantees.

Putin noted in the conversation that the Russian side would carefully study the written responses to the draft agreements on security guarantees, after which it would decide on its further actions.

When discussing the situation in Ukraine, the Russian leader emphasized the importance of Kiev's strict compliance with the provisions of the Minsk agreements and other agreements, primarily on establishing a direct dialogue with the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics and legalizing the special status of Donbass.

“Taking into account the results of the meeting of political advisers to the leaders of the Normandy Four countries held in Paris on January 26, the mood for further work of Russia and France in this format has been confirmed,” the message says.

On January 26, in Paris, at the Elysee Palace, a meeting of political advisers of the Normandy Four was held. Representatives of Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine conferred for more than 8.5 hours.

The parties agreed on the need to maintain a truce and a ceasefire in Donbass, regardless of the discrepancies in the Minsk agreements, and also made an inventory of them. As head of the Russian delegation Dmitry Kozak noted, without a common understanding of all the provisions of the Minsk agreements, the Normandy format will not play a significant role in resolving the conflict.

He also noted that progress in the negotiations is “almost zero”. He also added that the negotiators requested a two-week pause to consider the demands of the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR, which are ignored by Kiev. He clarified that Ukraine has not presented its conditions or vision of ways to resolve the conflict.