Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron have spoken in a phone call for the first time in three years.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it was France that asked for French President Emmanuel Macron to speak by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a pause of nearly three years and that the two leaders had a "very substantive" discussion.

Yuriy Ushakov, aide to Vladimir Putin, has told Russian propagandist media that during his phone conversation with the US President, the Kremlin leader discussed the situation in the Middle East and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.