French President Emmanuel Macron is ready to consider Russian President Vladimir Putin's proposed moratorium on the deployment of short- and intermediate-range missiles in Europe, Frankfurter Allgemeine reported. Mr Macron has not commented on the report yet.
According to the daily, on 23 October Macron answered Putin's letter, saying that the proposal should be thoroughly considered on bilateral and multilateral levels.
Mr Putin sent a letter to the leaders of several countries, including NATO members, in September, suggesting a moratorium on deploying missiles banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) in Europe and other regions. NATO confirmed that it had received the letter but said that it did not find the proposal credible.
Earlier this month, Macron said in an interview with the Economist that NATO was "brain dead" and questioned the alliance's commitment to collective defence.
The US formally suspended its obligations under the INF Treaty at the beginning of the year and unilaterally quit it, accusing Russia of not fulfilling its commitments. Russia denied the allegations. The treaty, which banned any ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 km, was terminated on 2 August.
