Macron, Putin discuss Syrian settlement prior to Istanbul summit

French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation on Saturday morning prior to the quadrilateral summit on the Syrian settlement in Istanbul, TASS reported citing the BFM TV channel.

During the meeting Macron particularly emphasized the necessity of a political settlement of the Syrian conflict, a source from the Macron administration said.

He also wants the participants of the summit to pledge to prevent the use of chemical weapons, as well as observe a ceasefire in the long-term in order to avoid a humanitarian disaster, the channel said.

The Kremlin press service has issued no reports about such a conversation yet.