France says world powers must keep talking with Vladimir Putin

Russian leader 'has not had the results he thought he would', says France's foreign minister

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian speaks at the Doha Forum in Qatar on March 27. EPA

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International powers must keep talking with Russia's President Vladimir Putin until he is ready to end his invasion of Ukraine, France's Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Sunday.

Mr Le Drian told a conference in Qatar that Mr Putin had not achieved any of his aims, but that there had to be a ceasefire around the bombarded Ukrainian city of Mariupol before there could be negotiations.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to speak with Mr Putin this week about a ceasefire.

"We must keep talking with the Russians, we must continue to speak with President Putin precisely because he has not had the results he thought he would," Mr Le Drian told the Doha Forum.

He said the Russian invasion had united Ukraine and given a new impetus to the EU and Nato, while Russia was losing major markets for its energy exports.

The dialogue has to be "clear, with no naivety and a lot of firmness", Mr Le Drian said.

There has to be a ceasefire in Mariupol "as no one can negotiate seriously with a gun to the head", he said.

"But continue to speak to him so that when the time comes that he thinks the price being paid for his intervention in Ukraine is so high that it is better to negotiate, there is a way that allows the opening of discussions," Mr Le Drian said.

"It is for these reasons that President Macron continues to talk with President Putin, to obtain the conditions for a ceasefire first and negotiations after."

Mr Macron warned earlier against a verbal "escalation" of the conflict after US President Joe Biden called Mr Putin a "butcher" who "cannot remain in power".

The Kremlin said Mr Biden's comments threatened bilateral relations.