French President Emmanuel Macron said he’s won agreement from Vladimir Putin that Russia won’t escalate the standoff with Western nations over Ukraine. The Kremlin spokesman said that’s not so clear. 

Macron met with Putin for more than five hours in Moscow on Monday and at a joint press conference the two leaders said they had agreed to work toward a “new security order” for Europe. But they offered little detail on what that new arrangement might involve and Putin’s spokesman denied the two leaders had reached any deal.

The Russian government has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to invade Ukraine.

While Macron’s aides have been trying to portray the president as a key figure in the western engagement with Putin, his visit to Moscow added a dose of confusion to the picture as a French official talked up an agreement and then backed away from their comments.

“For me, it was about blocking the game to prevent escalation,” Macron told reporters on the plane to Kyiv, where he met with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskiy. “This target is accomplished.”

But in a press conference later on Tuesday, Macron said it would take time to see the results of his diplomatic action. He also insisted that it was important to resume in-person meetings in the face of Putin’s strategy to send letters to communicate with Western partners.

The French leader made a strategic decision to build a relationship with his Russian counterpart when he came to power almost five years ago and needs to demonstrate that he has something to show for that investment as he aims to win re-election in April.

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