French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Moscow Monday to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in an attempt avoid a Russian invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reports. The Kremlin has repeatedly said the West doesn’t respect Russia’s security concerns, so Macron is making a last-minute attempt to address Putin’s issues.
The trip will test Macron’s diplomatic skills: if he succeeds in getting Putin to withdraw from the region, his legacy will be cemented. However, should he fail to achieve any concessions, he will come home a failure. He has been making endless phone calls to Western leaders and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to find parameters for negotiations.
“We’re heading to Putin’s lair, in many ways it’s a throw of the dice,” one source close to Macron told Reuters.