Macron claims Putin gave him personal assurances on Ukraine

Emmanuel Macron completed a whirlwind diplomatic mission to Moscow and Kyiv on Tuesday, claiming that he had received personal assurances from Vladimir Putin that Russia would not worsen the crisis over Ukraine.

On Tuesday, six Russian warships and a submarine passed through the Dardanelles strait, heading towards the Black Sea from the Mediterranean. The Russian vessels are landing ships used for amphibious assault and are expected to arrive in the Black Sea in the next few days.

After a meeting in Washington with Joe Biden on Monday, Scholz refused to say definitively whether the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany would be shut down in the event of an invasion. However, the US Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, said that the chancellor had given that assurance privately at a dinner on Monday night.

Macron insisted on Tuesday that the Minsk agreements signed by Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 at a time of military defeat were the best way out of the conflict. But Kyiv and Moscow do not agree on what the deal means.

But the Kremlin quickly moved to ridicule any suggestion that it had made concessions.

Even if the Kremlin does then withdraw tactical battalions from Belarus, it is unclear if they would return to their bases in the far east of Russia or remain closer to Ukraine.