France said on Monday it was time to ease tensions with Russia at the end of high-level ministerial talks in Moscow, the first since the crisis over Ukraine.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Laudrian said there was a "window of opportunity" to resolve the Ukrainian conflict after an important prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kiev on Saturday, but said it was too early to talk about lifting sanctions on Russia.
The meeting, which included French Foreign Minister and Defense Minister Florence Barley along with their Russian counterparts, was held as part of the intergovernmental dialogue in the form of "2 + 2", the first of its kind since 2012, but especially after Russia annexed the Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, which caused a major crisis in relations. Between Russia and Europe.
French President Emmanuel Macron recently launched a diplomatic push for reconciliation in Europe´s relations with Russia.
"The time has come," he told a news conference in the Russian capital.
"We have come to propose on behalf of the President a program of action based on trust and security," he added.
"We don´t always have the same vision, but it´s important to be able to talk and avoid misunderstandings and friction," said French Defense Minister Florence Parli.
For his part, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that progress in rebuilding relations "possible and necessary."
Lavrov welcomed recent statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinsky as "very positive" and described the prisoner exchange as a "good signal" for future progress.
Relations between Europe and Russia have been seriously strained since 2014, when the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on Russia after the annexation of the Crimea and support for separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Macron tried to bring Russia closer to Europe by hosting Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks in southern France last month and renewing high-level diplomatic contacts.
The two presidents spoke by telephone on Sunday and welcomed the prisoner swap that led to the release of 70 prisoners.
Attempts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine were revived in April with the election of new Ukrainian President Zelinsky, who made ending the conflict a top priority.
Macron announced a summit under the "Normandy formula" involving France, Germany, Russia and Ukraine during his talks with Putin, but no date has been set.
At the heart of the summit will be the revival of the Minsk agreements, under which France and Germany helped negotiate a solution to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict but failed to stop fighting in eastern Ukraine, where more than 13,000 people have been killed.
Analysts said Macron was trying to take the lead on Russia in Europe.
As president of the Group of Seven and the Council of Europe, with Germany and Britain focusing on domestic politics, Macron sees an opportunity.
"Like any good politician, Emmanuel Macron says to himself that if there is an opportunity to do something in Ukraine, the time is right now," said Florent Parmentier, a researcher at the Institute of Political Science in Paris.
"It will not be easy but it is not a reckless move," he said, noting that the "real diplomatic progress" France had made was to support Russia´s return to the Council of Europe, the continent´s main human rights body, in June last year.
