President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had their first official phone call on Tuesday afternoon since the US launched an airstrike in Syria. The unilateral pre-emptive strike angered the Russians leading to strained relations between Moscow and Washington, the lowest since the end of the Cold War.
According to the White House, the two leaders discussed the conflicts in Syria, North Korea and the scourge of Islamic extremism in the Middle East. They concluded by agreeing to work together in solving these issues.
A statement from the Kremlin said Presidents Trump and Putin agreed to meet in July to work together on strengthening the shaky ceasefire in the intractable Syrian conflict.
While the conversation was classified as ‘business-like and constructive’, it emphasized on coordinating their actions to fight international terrorism.
“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,” read the White House statement.
On North Korea, the Kremlin said Putin called for restraint and that the two leaders had agreed to work together to make diplomatic progress there too.
“They also discussed at length working together to eradicate terrorism throughout the Middle East. Finally, they spoke about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea,” the statement said.
Both men also spoke in favor of organizing a face-to-face meeting around the time of the G20 summit in Hamburg in July, according to the Kremlin statement.
The White House later released a statement saying that Washington will be sending a representative to Astana, Kazakhstan for the Syrian ceasefire talks on Wednesday and Thursday.
Trump’s unilateral decision to launch 59 cruise missiles in a Syrian airfield on April 4 in retaliation to an alleged chemical attack angered the Russians. The war of words and hostility between the two countries resulted in strained US-Russia relations.
REUTERS, 2 May 2017
