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.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not changed his position on the full-scale war in Ukraine. He rejected a ceasefire on the front lines during a conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron,