European diplomatic initiatives continue in Moscow and Kyiv

French president Emmanuel Macron is in Moscow on Feb.
7 in a diplomatic effort to avert a further military invasion of Ukraine. He
will be pushing for a diplomatic settlement based on the Normandy Four negotiations,
france24.com reported on Feb. 7. Macron will be in Kyiv on Feb. 8.

Tass.com reported on Feb. 7 that expectations of
progress during the visit to Moscow are low, but quoted Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov as recommending to wait for the president’ assessments after the
talks.

While Macron is in Moscow, the German, Czech, Slovak
and Austrian foreign ministers will be visiting Kyiv for a two day trip. German
Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in Washington to visit U.S. President Joe Biden will
be in a trip that will focus on the situation in Ukraine, and Scholz will visit
Kyiv and Moscow in the week of Feb. 14.

James Hydzik: The high-profile diplomatic effort will continue through next week,
and many observers are looking at Feb. 20, when both the Olympics and military
maneuvers in Belarus will end. Because the maneuvers themselves are under close
observation, there is little expectation that a further invasion of Ukraine
would start from there at that time.