PARIS, November 18 – RIA Novosti. French President Emmanuel Macron urged China, India and other countries to persuade Russia to return to the negotiating table to resolve the conflict in Ukraine.

“France does not just support Ukraine. It will continue to do so, but will also work closely with other countries: China, India, the whole region, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, to understand that this war is your problem too. This brings serious instability. brings it in,” Macron said at a press conference after Friday’s APEC forum.

“Help us get this message across to Russia: stop the war, respect the global rule of law, get back to the negotiating table, because we all need to focus on meeting the real challenges of our time.”

The APEC summit will be held in Thailand on 18-19 November.

Volodymyr Zelensky announced the conditions for Ukraine to start a dialogue on 8 November after reports in the Western media that Kiev was being pushed towards a dialogue with Russia. According to him, this is “the restoration of territorial integrity, the respect of the UN charter, compensation for all casualties, punishment of every war criminal and a guarantee that this will not happen again.” At the same time, earlier Zelensky signed a decree on the implementation of the decision of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on the impossibility of negotiating with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He also stated that as long as Putin is president, Ukraine will not hold any negotiations with Russia.

At the same time, Putin stated that Russia has always said that it is open to negotiations on Ukraine, and that if Kyiv matures, the mediation efforts of the bidders will be in demand.

Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov said on November 15 that Ukraine cannot and does not want to negotiate, “accordingly, the goals of the Russian Federation will be achieved through the continuation of a special military operation.”

Russia launched a military operation against Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin described his goal as “protecting people who have been subjected to eight years of bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime.” For this, according to him, it is planned to “disarm and demilitarize Ukraine” so that all war criminals responsible for “bloody crimes against civilians” in Donbass are brought to justice. The ultimate goal of the operation, according to the supreme commander, is “the liberation of Donbass and the creation of conditions that will guarantee Russia’s security”.