Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Yuriy Ushakov, reported that there was a telephone conversation between Putin and US President Donald Trump. The source of the information was the Russian state agencies “RIA Novosti” and TASS.
According to Ushakov, during the conversation, Putin informed Trump about the implementation of the Istanbul Agreements, which were reached between Russia and Ukraine in Turkey on June 2. Putin announced the readiness of the Russian side to continue negotiations with the Ukrainian delegation.
Yuriy Ushakov conveyed the content of the Russian leader’s statement as follows:
“During the conversation, our president informed Donald Trump about the implementation of the agreements reached during the meeting of the Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Istanbul on June 2. Our president noted that the exchange of prisoners of war, including the seriously wounded and prisoners under the age of 25, is currently underway. The Ukrainian side also received two batches of bodies of the dead. For its part, Russia expressed readiness to continue negotiations with the Ukrainian side, as agreed, after June 22. Donald Trump listened to this information and once again emphasized his interest in ending the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as soon as possible.”
Ushakov noted that Putin’s conversation with Trump lasted 50 minutes. In addition to the issue of Ukraine, the presidents discussed the situation in the Middle East. According to the assistant of the President of the Russian Federation, Donald Trump assessed the situation in the region as extremely tense. The interlocutors also did not rule out the possibility of returning to negotiations regarding the Iranian nuclear program.
In addition, Yuriy Ushakov reported that during the conversation Putin and Trump mentioned the “combat brotherhood of the two countries during the Second World War” and expressed satisfaction with the current level of relations, which, according to the representative of the Kremlin, “make it possible to solve current issues.”
Also during the conversation, Putin congratulated Trump on his birthday, who turned 79 on June 14, and on the Day of the American Flag.
As of press time, the White House has not received any official reports of this conversation.
Volodymyr Zelenskyi commented dialogue between the Russian Federation and the USA:
“Today America’s dialogue with the Russians resembles a warm conversation. Let’s be honest: it won’t stop Putin. A change of tonality is necessary. Putin must clearly understand that America will stand by Ukraine, in particular by imposing sanctions and supporting our army.
Any signals about a reduction in aid or attempts to put Ukraine and Russia on the same level are deeply unfair. Russia is the aggressor, it is she who brought this war, and she does not want to end it.
And therefore the world must send a clear signal: if Putin refuses to stop the war, he will face the strongest possible sanctions.”
