Russian President Vladimir Putin has sent a congratulatory telegram to Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of his re-election as leader of France, the Kremlin press service said Monday.
"I sincerely wish you success in your state activities, as well as good health and well-being," Putin said in the congratulatory message.
According to the French Interior Ministry, Macron won 58.5 percent of the vote in the second round of the presidential election, while his rival, the candidate of the Rassemblement Nationale party Marine Le Pen, won 41.5 percent. Both rivals also reached the second round in 2017, with Macron then receiving 66.1 percent of the vote.
Contacts of the leaders
Over the previous five years, Putin and Macron met several times and spoke many times by phone. Their first face-to-face talks took place in late May 2017 in Versailles, and the current French president's first visit to Russia was in May 2018 to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Macron came to Moscow in 2018 for the World Cup, and Putin was in Paris in November of that year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. In August 2019, Putin visited Fort Breganson, the official residence of the French president in the south of the country, for talks with Macron. The two leaders also spoke briefly in September of that year after a farewell ceremony in the French capital for former head of the republic Jacques Chirac.
The two presidents also met at various international forums, including the G20, the Syria summits, the Normandy format and others. The last face-to-face meeting between Putin and Macron so far took place in the Kremlin on February 7, and the last telephone conversation took place on March 29.
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Photo: official website of the President of the Russian Federation
Based on materials from TASS