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It was a mistake that there was no dialogue between Europe and Russia over arms reductions, French President Emmanuel Macron said at a joint news conference with Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins on Wednesday.

"The disarmament agreements were concluded between the United States and Russia and we were not even a party to them, but in the recent 15 years those agreements have been scrapped," he said. "We are no longer protected. In particular, it concerns the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty that the United States quitted. And what is instead? Nothing."

According to Macron, "It could have happened as Europe failed to build dialogue with Russia over the Europe-related disarmament issues." "It was a mistake," he believes.