French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna stressed the need to maintain a dialogue with Russia in order to “transmit our position and work together on specific issues.”

She pointed out that “it is necessary to maintain a dialogue with Russia, and that is why the President of the Republic maintains a dialogue with the President of Russia. This channel of dialogue is not only useful, but certainly necessary so that we can get our position across and work together on some issues.”

On May 28, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a request to allow the export of Ukrainian grain from Odessa through the Black Sea.

“On their initiative, French President and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which Macron and Schultz stressed that any solution to the war must be agreed between Moscow,” the message says. This is stated in the statement of the President of France and Kyiv, while respecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.