MOSCOW, July 21. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have discussed a number of pressing global and regional issues over the phone, the Kremlin press service reported on Saturday.

"Particular attention was paid to the humanitarian aspects of the Syrian settlement, including the implementation of the joint Russian-French initiative to provide humanitarian assistance to the population in Eastern Ghouta," the Kremlin said.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported earlier in the day that Russia’s Antonov An-124 Ruslan military transport plane had delivered 44 tonnes of humanitarian cargo from the French Chatearoux airport to Syria’s Hmeymim airfield. The cargo was dispatched to Syria in accordance with the decision on a joint project to provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian population made by the Russian and French presidents in St. Petersburg on May 24.

The medicines and basic necessities delivered to Syria "will be handed over to meet the needs of the civilian population in Eastern Ghouta (Douma), which is still in dire need of assistance, particularly for emergency medical care in hospitals managed by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent," the ministry noted.