Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said President Vladimir Putin answered a July 4 phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron because the Kremlin does not “refuse dialogue for the sake of opportunistic ideological interests.” Lavrov described Putin as “a polite and far-sighted politician” who remains open to talks regardless of political differences. According to the Kremlin’s earlier readout, the two leaders discussed the war in Ukraine, escalating tensions between Iran and Israel, and reported U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The conversation, initiated by Paris, concluded with an agreement to maintain further contacts and explore possible coordination on Middle-East issues. Putin told Macron that any settlement of the Ukraine conflict must address what Moscow calls the crisis’s “root causes” and acknowledge the “new territorial realities” created by Russia’s military actions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later said the exchange offered each side a chance to restate their positions, though Macron did not signal readiness to accept Russia’s conditions for peace.