PARIS, February 12. /TASS/. French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the Ukraine crisis with Russian President Vladimir Putin for one hour and 40 minutes in a phone call on Saturday, the Elysee Palace said.

According to an AFP source in the French president’s administration, "the conversation focused on prospects for reducing tensions in the crisis around Ukraine."

Saturday’s talks were the fourth telephone conversation between the Russian and French presidents in recent weeks. On Monday, Macron visited Moscow where he held five-hour talks with Putin to discuss the de-escalation of the crisis. The next day, the French president traveled to Kiev and Berlin to continue his diplomatic mission.

Many Western countries told their citizens to leave Ukraine. France has not yet issued such recommendations.

The West and Kiev have recently been spreading allegations about Russia’s potential ‘invasion’ of Ukraine. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov castigated these claims as "empty and unfounded", serving as a ploy to escalate tensions, pointing out that Russia did not pose any threat whatsoever to anyone. However, Peskov did not rule out the possibility of provocations aimed at justifying such allegations and warned that attempts to use military force to resolve the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have serious consequences.