Day 284: French Pres. Macron Says EU Should Address Putin's Security Guarantees

Facts

• Following earlier statements from US Pres. Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that they're both open to talks, French Pres. Emmanuel Macron said in a broadcast on Saturday that, if negotiations move forward, the West would need to take Russia's request for security guarantees into consideration.
• At a news conference with Macron weeks before the conflict, Putin highlighted Moscow's primary security requests as no further NATO expansion, no missile operations near its borders, and a reversion of NATO's military framework in Europe to 1997 levels.
• US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, however, expressed skepticism over the likelihood of peace talks, saying that Putin isn't sincere about negotiating, as evidenced by the attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure and his request that the West recognize Moscow's annexation of four Ukrainian areas.
• Meanwhile, amid concerns over slowing demand in China and the impacts of new oil sanctions against Moscow, the Saudi-led OPEC+ oil cartel and allied producing nations — including Russia — met on Sunday to discuss oil supply to the global economy, deciding to leave their targets unchanged.
• This comes the day before a new EU, G7, and Australian $60 per barrel cap on Russian oil is due to take effect.
• While Moscow said it would analyze the new sanction before deciding on a specific course of action, it has rejected the price cap and warned that it would stop supplying oil to any country that backs it.

Sources: Reuters, U.S News, ABC, Al Jazeera, and Associated Press.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. This invasion is an egregious violation of international law. Putin's ultimate aim is to restore the Soviet empire, even if it takes massive bloodshed and false pretexts such as calling the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after an election a "coup". This unprovoked attack is the latest chapter in Putin's Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by National Security Archive. NATO and the US have ignored Russia's security concerns by breaking its promise not to expand eastward in return for German reunification. These concerns are legitimate and taking them seriously would have avoided the Ukraine tragedy.