At the opening of talks in the Kremlin on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron, the highest-ranking Western leader to visit Moscow since Russia began massing troops on Ukraine‘s border, told Vladimir Putin that he wanted to avert conflict and build confidence.

Macron, who is set to run for re-election in April, has positioned himself as a possible mediator on Ukraine, expressing doubts about predictions from Washington, London, and other Western capitals that a Russian assault is near.

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Macron told Putin he was looking for a “constructive” reaction “that of course allows us to avoid war and to build bricks of trust, stability, visibility.” For his part, Putin stated that Russia and France shared “a common concern about what is happening in the security sphere in Europe.”

“I see how much efforts the current leadership of France and the president personally is applying in order to solve the crisis related to providing equal security in Europe for a serious historical perspective,” Putin said.

Macron told the Journal du Dimanche daily on the eve of his trip to Moscow, “The geopolitical objective of Russia today is clearly not Ukraine, but to clarify the rules of cohabitation with NATO and the EU.”

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On his arrival, Macron told reporters, “I’m reasonably optimistic but I don’t believe in spontaneous miracles.”

Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman, said ahead of the talks, “The situation is too complex to expect decisive breakthroughs in the course of one meeting.”

Near Ukraine’s borders, Russia has deployed about 100,000 troops. It denies preparing an invasion, but says it is prepared to take unspecified “military-technical measures” if its demands are not met, which include NATO’s vow not to accept Ukraine and the withdrawal of some soldiers from Eastern Europe.

These requests have been dismissed by Washington as non-starters, but it has stated that it is open to discuss arms control and confidence-building measures, which Moscow dismisses as irrelevant.

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“In recent days there has been nothing new on the topic of security guarantees for Russia. Our Western interlocutors prefer not to mention this topic,” Peskov said.

The US and its partners have ruled out using military force to defend Ukraine, but have stated that any invasion would be met with sanctions, arms transfers, and NATO country reinforcements.