On Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin for the first time by phone since the bombing in St. Petersburg on April 3. According to the White House, the two leaders spoke about the situation regarding Syria, terrorism in the Middle East and the dangerous situation currently growing with North Korea.
“President Trump and President Putin agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence,” the White House said in a statement.
They added that the conversation was “very good.”
“The conversation was a very good one, and included the discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons,” the White House said.
The statement said that the U.S. would be sending a representative to the cease-fire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan on May 3 and 4.
“They also discussed at length working together to eradicate terrorism throughout the Middle East,” the statement continued.
“Finally, they spoke about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea,” it concluded.
The Kremlin released a statement regarding the phone call as well.
“A number of topical issued of cooperation between the two countries in the international arena were discussed,” the Kremlin statement said. “The emphasis is on the prospect of coordinating the actions of Russia and the United States in the fight against international terrorism in the context of the Syrian crisis.”
The Kremlin also stated that in particular, it was agreed “to intensify the dialogue between the foreign ministers of the two countries on the search for options that allow to consolidate the cease-fire regime, to give it stability and controllability.”
It also noted that the “dangerous situation” regarding North Korea was discussed “extensively.”
What was noted in the Kremlin statement that was left out of the White House’s was mentioning that both Putin and Trump “expressed support for the continuation of contacts over the phone.”
Furthermore, it mentioned that the two were “in favor of organizing a personal meeting in connection with the meeting of the G-20 summit in Hamburg on July 7-8.”
“The conversation was businesslike and constructive,” the statement concluded.
[revad2]
