Kremlin says France was the one who asked for Macron call with Putin after almost three-year pause

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.

The two leaders spoke on Tuesday and discussed the Iran-Israel conflict and Ukraine, the first such exchange between the two men since September 2022.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the call had lasted for more than two hours.