President Putin Calls Emmanuel Macron: Discuss Wheat, Nuclear Power Plants To Prison Attacks

Presiden Rusia Vladimir Putin bersama Presiden Prancis Emmanuel Macron. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru/Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation)

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed a number of issues with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron while the two countries' leaders spoke on the phone.

One of the things the two leaders discussed was the Istanbul agreement on grain shipments and the export of goods from Russia.

"The Russian president informed about progress in implementing the 'package' agreement signed on July 22 in Istanbul, on the delivery of Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports as well as the export of Russian food and fertilizers to global markets," the Kremlin quoted TASS as saying August 19.

"Attention is drawn to the fact that the aforementioned barriers to Russian exports remain, which do not facilitate the solution of tasks related to providing global food security," the Kremlin added.

The next thing the two leaders discussed was the issue of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and the risks resulting from the Russo-Ukrainian war.

"They touched on various aspects of the situation surrounding Ukraine. In particular, President Putin stressed, the systematic shooting down of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the Ukrainian military, poses the threat of a large-scale catastrophe that could lead to radioactive contamination of a large area," the Kremlin said.

Both President Putin and President Macron "note the importance of sending the IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia as soon as possible, to assess the real situation on the ground."

"The Russian side confirmed its readiness to provide the necessary assistance to IAEA inspectors," the Kremlin added.

During the conversation, President Putin also repeated an invitation for UN experts and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to visit the site of the prison attack in Yelenovka.

"President Putin repeated the invitation to experts from the UN Secretariat and the ICRC to visit the pre-trial detention center in Yelenovka (Donetsk People's Republic), where a large number of Ukrainian POWs died in the Ukrainian offensive," the Kremlin said.

Held at the request of the French side, Friday's talks were the first contact between the two leaders since May 28, when they held a trilateral telephone conversation with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The Kremlin added, the two leaders agreed to maintain contact on various issues.