On July 1, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin — their first direct conversation in nearly three years.
The call was reported by Bloomberg, citing a statement from the Élysée Palace, according to Ukrinform.
The two presidents reportedly agreed to coordinate their actions on Iran, with the call lasting over two hours.
“The two presidents decided to coordinate their approaches and to speak to each other in the near future in order to follow up on this issue together,” said the French presidential administration.
According to The Moscow Times, citing the Kremlin press service, Macron and Putin discussed the situation in the Middle East, the Iran-Israel war, and U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The Kremlin claims both leaders emphasized the importance of respecting Iran’s “legitimate right” to develop peaceful nuclear energy, and the need for Tehran to continue complying with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, including cooperation with the IAEA.
The two also reportedly discussed the war in Ukraine. A Kremlin statement said Putin reminded Macron that “the Ukrainian conflict is a direct consequence of the policy of Western states.” Putin added that Western states had “for many years ignored Russia’s security interests” and “created an anti-Russian bridgehead in Ukraine.”
Putin also accused the West of prolonging the war by supplying advanced weaponry to the Kyiv regime.
On the issue of a peace settlement, Putin told the French President that any peace deal should be “comprehensive and long-term, provide for the elimination of the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and be based on new territorial realities.”
It remains unclear who initiated the phone call.
The last time Macron and Putin spoke by phone was on September 11, 2022, at the initiative of France.
As Ukrinform previously reported, Macron recently urged the U.S. to impose sanctions on Russia if Moscow proves unwilling to engage in genuine peace efforts.
