Russian President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Tuesday that Moscow wanted immediate talks with Western countries to prevent NATO's expansion further east, the Kremlin said.
"The Russian president emphasised the importance of immediately launching international negotiations to develop legally fixed guarantees that would prevent any further NATO expansion to the east and the deployment of weapons to neighbouring states, primarily in Ukraine, that threaten Russia," the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin made a similar demand during virtual talks with U.S. President Joe Biden last week and in a phone call with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt and Daria Korsunskaya; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Alison Williams)
