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It was the two leaders’ first call since 2022, and the Russian president’s first with any major European leader since last year.
July 1, 2025, 2:44 p.m. ET
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.
