Putin and Macron discussed Ukraine and Mali during phone call -Kremlin

"The president of Russia stressed that the possibility of holding a new summit in the Normandy format also depends on the Kyiv authorities' concrete steps to implement the Minsk Package of measures," the Kremlin said in a statement. Those are a set of agreements designed to end a separatist war by Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron discussed the situations in Ukraine and Mali as well as Russian proposals to the United States on security guarantees during a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.

Moscow, which has unnerved the West with a troop buildup near Ukraine, last week unveiled a wish list of security proposals it wants to negotiate, including a promise NATO would give up any military activity in Eastern Europe and Ukraine. "The president of Russia stressed that the possibility of holding a new summit in the Normandy format also depends on the Kyiv authorities' concrete steps to implement the Minsk Package of measures," the Kremlin said in a statement.

Those are a set of agreements designed to end a separatist war by Russian-speakers in eastern Ukraine. They were signed in Minsk in 2014 and 2015. The "Normandy format" talks between Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine are designed to resolve the crisis. The Kremlin did not provide any further detail about discussions around Mali. In November, Russia dismissed French concerns about a potential deal between Mali and a Russian private military contractor and said it planned to continue supplying Mali with weapons, military hardware and ammunition.