French, German leaders to visit Russia, Ukraine amid tension

By ANGELA CHARLTON, GEIR MOULSON and DASHA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will head to Moscow and Kyiv in the coming weeks, adding to diplomatic efforts to try to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin from launching an invasion of Ukraine. Macron has been trying to find a diplomatic way out of the growing tensions, while Scholz has faced criticism at home for keeping a low public profile in the crisis. The visits come as China has backed Russia’s demand that NATO should be precluded from expanding to Ukraine, and after the U.S. accused the Kremlin of an elaborate plot to fabricate an attack by Ukrainian forces that Russia could use as a pretext to take military action.