Britain was said to be concerned last night about Emmanuel Macron's 'private promises' to Vladimir Putin in a bid to secure a peace deal over Ukraine, Daily Mail reports.
The French premier has positioned himself as a potential peacemaker in eastern Europe after dining with President Putin at the Kremlin on Monday.
Sitting at either end of a 16ft table due to Covid measures, the pair washed down the finest cuisine with vintage wines.
As they dined, Mr Macron made offers to Mr Putin that were not sanctioned by France's NATO partners, including the UK, the Daily Mail has learned.
Mr Macron, who is up for re-election in April, flew from Moscow to Kiev yesterday to meet Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for talks at a much more modest table.
Mr Macron's apparent failure to consult allies ahead of the talks with Mr Putin could render any agreement meaningless, sources say.
His offers included Ukraine becoming neutral, a move that would rule out the former Soviet republic joining NATO.
Last night, a senior Government source told the Mail that President Macron 'hasn't consulted with anyone' about his peace bid.
A source said: 'He is doing his own thing, we don't know what's happening. He's gone beyond the NATO position. But it is interesting.
'We'll just have to see how it plays out.' Some 130,000 Russian troops are poised to strike against Ukraine and take Kiev.
Mr Macron's neutrality proposal is not supported by NATO or the Ukrainian government.
But following the meeting in Kiev, Mr Macron said he saw the 'possibility' for talks with Moscow and Ukraine and 'concrete, practical solutions' to prevent war.
The EU's diplomatic chief said Tuesday that Macron's visit to Russia brought 'an element of detente' to the crisis between the West and Moscow over Ukraine, but did not amount to a 'miracle.'
“As far as people are willing to sit at the table and talk I think that there is a hope for not going into military confrontation,” Josep Borrell told reporters at the end of a visit to Washington.
