Macron Ready For Dialogue With Putin Amid Tensions In Supply Of Western Weapons To Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron/Obviously Alexei Druzhinin/TASS, archive

French President Emmanuel Macron said he was ready to resume dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"I will continue the dialogue with Vladimir Putin," he said on the Generation Do It Yourself podcast reported by TASS, Tuesday, June 25.

"No, we haven't (communicated) in recent months, but I don't rule out discussing one problem or another," he said.

The French leader stressed he "trusted the power of dialogue." I speak very sincerely: I believe the importance of continuing dialogue, "said Macron.

He admitted that he wanted to discuss with the Russian leader, especially the issue of nuclear power plants, without elaborating on what he meant.

Putin previously said Moscow was ready to interact with Paris if the French side had such an interest. According to the Russian leader, he and Macron had a good working relationship, but the French president cut ties.

Russia's relations with a number of Western countries are strained over war in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin once warned Western countries, NATO members (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) who were deemed to be playing with fire by proposing that Ukraine use Western weapons to attack deep within Russian territory, which he said could trigger a global conflict.

"Continuous ecosystems can have serious consequences," President Putin told reporters in Tashkent on Wednesday, May 29.

French President Emmanuel Macron stressed Ukraine should be allowed to use French weapons, including long-range missiles, against targets in the Russian territory where Moscow attacked Ukraine.

We think we should allow them to neutralize the location of the military where missiles were fired and, basically, the location of the military where Ukraine was attacked, Macron said during a press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Brandenburg, Germany.

The Ukrainian land is attacked from bases in Russia. So how do we explain to Ukrainians that we have to protect these cities... if we tell them that you are not allowed to reach the point where the missiles are fired?

France has reportedly supplied an unknown number of SCALP cruise missiles to Ukraine, according to the French Ministry of Defense's website.

The SCALP missile has a range of up to 155 kilometers (96 miles) and carries a high-power explosive warhead weighing 400 kilograms (81 pounds), according to a Missile Threat project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.