The Russian president has cited several "legitimate security interests" that he wishes to be addressed.
Russian president Vladimir Putin has detailed what he deems "legitimate security interests" that must be recognised and solved if his country is to consider backing down over the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Following a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian officials on the Belarusian border on Monday afternoon, Putin reportedly held a 90-minute phone call with French president Emmanuel Macron.
According to
Max Seddon of the Financial Times, Putin is unlikely to "back down" in the immediate future after outlining an effective list of demands to Macron, including:
– Recognition of Russia's sovereignty over Crimea.
– The demilitarisation and "de-nazification" of the Ukrainian state.
– Ensuring its neutral status.
Seddon noted that Putin has "stressed a settlement is possible only if Russia's legitimate security interests are taken into account".
It has also been expressed that Russia is open to negotiating with Ukraine "and expects that will lead to the desired results".
Russian-state affiliated media has reported that Monday's negotiations concluded with negotiators from both sides returning to Moscow and Kiev for consulations.
A second meeting is scheduled to be held at the Polish-Belarusian border.
On Friday, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar
compared Putin to Adolf Hitler while condemning the invasion.
Also on Friday, Russian ambassador to Ireland Yury Filatov made headlines following
a notably tense interview with David McCullagh on RTÉ's Six One News on Friday (25 February).
That interview, which quickly went viral across the world, saw McCullagh sign off by labelling Filatov "an apologist for slaughter".
On Monday morning, Simon Coveney stated that it would "not be wise" to expel Filatov.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs
answered questions about the possible expulsion on RTÉ's Morning Ireland on Monday.
"I can totally understand the anger and the sentiment behind that," Coveney said.
"So many people have texted me to say 'for God's sake, why aren't you expelling the Russian ambassador and the rest of his team?'
"My job as a foreign minister is to try and think ahead here. We are going to have Irish citizens, hundreds of them, living and working in Russia.
"We have many Irish citizens still in Ukraine too. I need to make sure we have lines of communication open so that I can help those people and do my job.
"Even if you fundamentally disagree with someone, as we do with Russia right now, and you're trying to hold them to account as we are trying right now, you still need to keep lines of communication open," Coveney continued.
"Does that mean that we won't be expelling some Russian diplomats and some operatives that are not diplomats in the next few days? No, it doesn't, we may well do that.
"I don't think it's wise for us to expel the Russian ambassador and to have no Russian presence in Ireland to allow us to have a direct line with Moscow and let them know what the Irish view very directly is in terms of Russian actions."
