00:00The diplomatic effort to ease the tensions in Ukraine is continuing at the highest levels.
00:05But both Russia, NATO and Ukraine seem to remain fixed in their positions.
00:09So the latest leaders to discuss the situation, they were the presidents of France and of Russia, Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin.
00:15The Kremlin says Mr Putin once again pushed forward these requests for NATO to halt any expansion
00:20and move strike weapons back from Russia's borders.
00:24And once again, they were ignored.
00:25Meanwhile, Russian forces continue with military exercises close to Ukraine's borders.
00:30But Mr Putin's chief diplomat, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, insists that it is not a sign of aggression.
00:39If it depends on Russia, there will be no war.
00:43But we will not let them undermine and ignore Russian interests.
00:47I cannot say for sure if negotiations are over now.
00:50As you know, the US and NATO have been studying our simple proposals for more than a month.
00:56And only the day before yesterday, we received answers in Western style that are a bit confusing but rational in minor issues.
01:05This is better than nothing.
01:06But the main thing for us is to deal with the basic concepts of European security.
01:11Now, meanwhile, the NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, he said the alliance was watching very closely as Russia moved soldiers and weapons to Belarus
01:20and was prepared to increase its troop presence in Eastern Europe.
01:24We are also ready to step up, as we actually now do, our military presence in the eastern part of the alliance to prevent any misunderstanding or room for miscalculation about NATO's ability and readiness to protect and defend all allies.
01:42So, both sides sticking to their positions.
01:45Let's get more on that phone call that was between President Macron and President Putin.
01:55Here's our correspondent in Moscow, Caroline Davies.
01:58Well, we know it was lengthy to start with, which I suppose is a relatively good sign.
02:01But we also know some of the elements that were talked about according to a readout from that call from Moscow.
02:07So, some of the points that were made, the Russian side have said that they would carefully study the written responses.
02:13We know that already.
02:14We know that President Putin has got those written responses from America and is saying that they are looking at them.
02:19But there's a few other points that I think it's worth pulling out as well.
02:22They talked about the fact that the fundamental concerns of Russia preventing NATO expansion, that that was not directly addressed, that was not taken into account.
02:32We know that that was something that Russia has demanded back in December when they presented these draft treaties to NATO and to America.
02:40One of the key demands was that NATO would not expand further eastwards, that, in particular, Ukraine would not be allowed to join NATO.
02:48And that they are, and President Putin has highlighted again, that wasn't addressed by the Americans in their response.
02:53And then there's this other paragraph as well, saying this key question was ignored, which, in summary, the key question is that for Russia, they say this is about the security situation for Russia.
03:04They view NATO as being an aggressive force, and therefore any form of its expansion, they are arguing, is an issue for their own security.
03:12Thanks very much to Caroline.
03:14Well, now, let's hear from Sweden.
03:15So, a country which, while allied closely to NATO, is not a member of the organisation.
03:20Our chief international correspondent, Lise Doucette, has been speaking to the Swedish Defence Minister.
03:25Let's watch.
03:26President Biden has said there is a distinct possibility that Russia will invade Ukraine next month.
03:34Do you share that assessment?
03:36It's difficult to say what will happen, but there is a direct threat to Ukraine, and it's also a direct threat to the European security order.
03:50And I think it's very important to be very clear to the Russians that they are responsible for the crisis.
03:58They are the reasons why we have this situation.
04:03They are the ones who are ready to break international law and have done it before.
04:09So, the responsibility for this situation is on the Russian side, totally.
04:17But, of course, President Putin blames NATO for its eastward expansion, for threatening Russia's interests.
04:25He also has criticised, indeed, even Ukraine has expressed concern about removing non-essential staff from embassies,
04:33moving military hardware to this area, sending military forcements to Ukraine,
04:38that it is contributing to an escalation of the crisis.
04:41There is no threat from NATO and any of the democratic European countries against Russia.
04:51They have never been any threat.
04:53This is some sort of Russian narrative that are fake news and a false falsification to make some sort of tension here.
05:04So, there is no threat from NATO, no threat from Europe.
05:07What is your assessment about what Sergei Lavrov had today?
05:14He's talking about, in his words, grains of rationality in America's response to President Putin's demands.
05:22You yourself recently said, don't be naive about Russia.
05:26What do you make of it, then?
05:28Yeah, we should not be naive about Russia.
05:31They want to step in forward here with their unrealistic list of different sort of demands on Europe and the neighbourhood.
05:40And all of these demands are unacceptable.
05:44And I am positive that there are some sort of discussions between NATO, the United States and Russia.
05:52But we cannot compromise around the questions that are fundamental for each nation's sovereignty and integrity.
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