The French president made it clear that he himself “wouldn’t use such words.” The escalation of the conflict in Ukraine through words or actions should be avoided, French leader Emmanuel Macron has warned, after US President Joe Biden labeled his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, “a butcher,” who “cannot remain in power.”

UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has told a British newspaper such a move would be contingent on Moscow’s withdrawal from Ukraine The UK could lift its “crippling” sanctions should Russia withdraw from Ukraine and commit to abstaining from “further aggression,” Britain’s foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has revealed.

The European Union has not yet discussed a possible ban on the Russian diamond sector, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced on Friday upon his arrival at the EU summit. De Croo stressed that Western sanctions “must have a much bigger impact on the Russian side than on ours.”