File- French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a media conference, after an extraordinary NATO summit and Group of Seven meeting, at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, March 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
By Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, that it was not possible for Western gas clients to pay their bills in roubles, a French presidential official told journalists on Tuesday.
“France is against paying in roubles,” the official said.
In his phone call with Putin, Macron also reiterated his preparedness to carry out a humanitarian rescue mission in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the official said, but added that the conditions for such a step were not yet in place.
Russia promised on Tuesday to scale down military operations around Kyiv and northern Ukraine as a confidence-building step, in the most tangible sign yet of progress towards negotiating an end to the war.