French President Emmanuel Macron has said he thinks a deal to avoid full scale war in Ukraine is possible and that it is legitimate for Russia to raise its own security concerns.

French President Emmanuel Macron flies to Moscow on Monday in a risky diplomatic move, seeking commitments from Russian President Vladimir Putin to dial down tensions with Ukraine, where Western leaders fear the Kremlin plans an invasion.

Before talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, he called for a "new balance" to protect European states and appease Russia. He restated that the sovereignty of Ukraine was not up for discussion.

Two sources close to Macron said one aim of his visit was to buy time and freeze the situation for several months, at least until a "Super April" of elections in Europe - in Hungary, Slovenia and, crucially for Macron, in France.

“The geopolitical objective of Russia today is clearly not Ukraine, but to clarify the rules of cohabitation with NATO and the EU,” Macron explained in a weekend interview with the weekly Journal du Dimanche before his departure for Moscow. Russia has repeatedly called for NATO to cease expanding eastward into former Soviet territories, citing an agreement made at the time of the USSR’s collapse that has since been repeatedly violated.

Macron also spoke with America's President Joe Biden on Sunday, discussing “ongoing diplomatic and deterrence efforts” regarding Russia and Ukraine. He will visit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday.

Biden last week ordered the deployment of 3,000 US troops to Poland, Germany and Romania, preparing for an invasion that Moscow flatly denies is coming. While Ukraine has walked back some of its warnings regarding the supposed imminence of a Russian invasion, the US has only doubled down, threatening to remove Russia from the SWIFT financial system or impose personal sanctions on Putin.

The French president's visit to Moscow and Ukraine comes less than three months before a presidential election at home. His political advisers see a potential electoral dividend, although Macron has yet to announce whether he will run.
-RT/Reuters