In their first call in almost three years, President Emmanuel Macron of France and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia appeared on Tuesday to find some common ground on Iran, but the leaders continued to be at loggerheads when it came to the war in Ukraine.
The call, which lasted two hours, was initiated after the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites last month. The two leaders shared a concern, as members of the United Nations Security Council, with “preserving the global nuclear nonproliferation regime,” a Kremlin statement said.
The call came after both leaders were left on the sidelines of the American decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites. For Mr. Macron, it appeared to be a move to regain international relevance in the Middle East. For Mr. Putin, it was also an opportunity to emphasize Russia’s stature as a player in global geopolitics despite the West’s outrage over his invasion of Ukraine.
The call was a diplomatic risk for Mr. Macron, representing a new step in undoing the isolation of Moscow that Western leaders have tried to maintain since Russia’s invasion began. It was Mr. Putin’s first call with a major European Union leader since he spoke with Olaf Scholz, who was then chancellor of Germany, in November last year.
Mr. Putin has tried to use the Israel-Iran war and its aftermath as a way to break that isolation, casting Russia as well positioned to mediate because of its close ties with Iran and cordial relations with Israel.
Mr. Macron had visited Moscow three weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 with the hopes of using diplomacy to dissuade the attack. He took the opportunity of the call with Mr. Putin to press the Russian leader on the war.
According to a press statement about the call by the Élysée Palace, Mr. Macron emphasized France’s “unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and called for a cease-fire as soon as possible.
Mr. Putin did not budge on Ukraine in the call, according to the Kremlin’s statement, which repeated the Russian president’s long-held talking points that blame the West for the war.
The statement said Mr. Putin had told Mr. Macron that a peace deal needed to address the war’s “root causes,” as the Russian president often says in public, referring to issues like NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe where Mr. Putin is seeking wide-ranging concessions before he stops fighting.
Mr. Macron called Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky both before and after his call with Mr. Putin, according to a member of his team.
Mr. Macron and Mr. Putin both said they planned to coordinate their efforts on Iran. When it came to Ukraine, the Élysée Palace said “the two presidents will also continue to talk about this issue.”
The two leaders spoke as President Trump, who has talked with Mr. Putin five times this year, appears to have stepped back from his push to broker a peace deal in Ukraine. It came after Mr. Putin offered last month to help mediate in the war between Iran and Israel, an offer that Mr. Trump said he rejected because he wanted Mr. Putin to “mediate Russia first.”
Ségolène Le Stradic contributed reporting from Paris.
Catherine Porter is an international reporter for The Times, covering France. She is based in Paris.
Anton Troianovski is the Moscow bureau chief for The Times. He writes about Russia, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.
The post Macron and Putin Discuss Iran and Ukraine in Rare Call appeared first on New York Times.
