MOSCOW, May 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday that despite Kiev’s unpreparedness for serious work Russia remained open to a dialogue, the Kremlin’s press service has said.

"The Russian president explained the fundamental approach to negotiations with the Ukrainian representatives. In particular, he stressed that despite Kiev’s inconsistency and unpreparedness for serious work Russia remained open to a dialogue," the Kremlin said.

Putin tells Marcon that the EU countries ignore war crimes committed by the Ukrainian forces. "It was stressed that the EU member-countries ignore war crimes committed by the Ukrainian forces and massive bombardments of Donbass villages and cities, which kill peaceful civilians," the Russian presidential press-service said in a statement. The Russian side pointed out that "the West might contribute to putting these crimes to an end by exerting pressure on the authorities in Kiev and terminating weapons supplies to Ukraine."

Putin and his French counterpart also discussed global food security. The Kremlin’s press-service said "the French side expressed concern over the problem of maintaining global food security." It is due to Western sanctions first and foremost. 

"In this context Putin stressed that the situation in this field was aggravated in the first place by the Western countries’ sanctions and underscored the importance of unhampered operation of the global logistic and transport infrastructure," the Kremlin said.

Putin congratulated Macron upon his victory in the recent presidential election. The two leaders agreed to continue contacts at different levels.

This conversation between Putin and Macron was their first one since Macron’s re-election for a second term. Last time Putin and Macron talked by telephone on March 29. Last Saturday, on April 30, Macron held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.