Excerpts of phone conversations between the French and Russian presidents that took place just days before the invasion of Ukraine in February will be aired this week on French national television, putting an end to some of the speculation as to what exactly the two leaders said to each other. French media reported on Monday that a nine-minute conversation will be aired as part of a documentary on state-run France 2 television.   

Some excerpts of the call, by turns tense and categorically bizarre, have aired on a separate French television show ahead of Thursday’s broadcast and were obtained by London’s Telegraph newspaper. One side of the phone conversation apparently took place in the most secure location in Paris: the nuclear bunker and command center situated beneath the Elysée Palace. 

President Macron opened the call: “Vladimir, firstly one thing.” He was interrupted by President Putin with a determined, “Listen, Emmanuel.” That did not stop the Frenchman: “I would like you to first give me your reading of the situation and perhaps quite directly, as is our habit, tell me what your intentions are.” 

To that, the Russian strongman replied, “What can I say? You yourself see what is happening,” and according to the Telegraph he proceeded to accuse Ukraine of violating the Minsk accords and to attack the Ukrainian president, Volodymr Zelensky: “In fact, our dear colleague Mr Zelensky is doing nothing” to apply the Minsk accords, Mr. Putin said before adding, “He is lying to you,” and falsely accusing Kyiv of seeking a nuclear weapon.

The two leaders also had a vivacious exchange over the issue of the Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine, with Mr. Putin having argued that their propositions should factor into any resolution of the Ukraine quandary. To that Mr. Macron retorted, “But we don’t care about the propositions from the separatists,” adding, “I don’t know which legal adviser could tell you that in a sovereign country, legislative texts are proposed by separatists and not by democratically elected authorities.” 

From there, it got worse: Mr. Putin replied, “It’s not a democratically elected government. They gained power through a bloody coup. People were burned alive. It was a bloodbath. And Zelensky is one of the culprits.”

The best, or worst, part of the now historic call was Mr. Putin’s response to Mr. Macron’s proposition that the Russian leader have a summit meeting with President Biden. “To be honest, I wanted to go play ice hockey,” he told the French president. “Here I am talking to you from the sports hall before starting the physical exertion.”

Mr. Macron kept his sang-froid: “Thank you in any case Vladimir. We will stay in touch in real-time. When there is something, call me.”

Mr. Putin thanked Mr. Macron — in French, no less — but did not notify him about a certain “something” that was to happen four days after the first call: the invasion of Ukraine.

It remains to be seen, or rather heard, whether the broadcasting of the Elysée phone calls (there was a second the day after the first) will lend fuel to the ire of the European leaders who have criticized the French president’s outreach to Mr. Putin, or will simply be seen as another night’s television fun in Paris.