The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was France that asked for French President Emmanuel Macron to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a pause of nearly three years and that the two leaders had a "very substantive" discussion.

It was the two leaders’ first call since 2022, and the Russian president’s first with any major European leader since last year.

French President Emmanuel Macron, after his telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, contacted the head of the Kiev regime, Vladimir Zelensky.