It has taken 100 hours for the presidents of France and Russia to hold talks on the phone over the past six months, French President Emmanuel Macron said in an interview with regional media outlets on Friday, TASS reports.
"The situation in Ukraine is really thorny, so I have devoted so much time and energy to it," Macron said, adding "it is already hard to count how many conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin have taken place since December."
"We have spoken for at least a hundred hours," the president pointed out.
Macron added that he had not made a secret out of these talks and he had held them at the request of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.
"Russia must not be humiliated," Macron emphasized. "Once the hostilities come to an end once day, we will be able to pave the way out of the crisis through diplomacy."
"I am convinced that France should act as a mediator," he said.
