(Getty)
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone about coordinating efforts to work for diplomatic progress in North Korea and Syria in a phone call Tuesday.
It was Trump and Putin’s first phone call since the United States issued an airstrike on Syria on April 6.
The White House called the conversation between the two a “very good” phone call.
The pair reportedly agreed to work together on the growing tensions in North Korea and came to an agreement on the ongoing situation in Syria.
They agreed that the situation in the war-torn country has “gone on for far too long,” saying that “all parties” must do whatever they can to put an end to the intense violence. In addition, they talked “at length” about the U.S. and Russia working together to put an end to terrorism in the Middle East.
Here’s a full readout that was issued by the White House after the call:
President Donald J. Trump of the United States and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation spoke today regarding Syria. 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 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 United States will be sending a representative to the cease-fire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan on May 3-4. 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 Kremlin issued a readout of the call that went in greater length than the one issued by the White House. In it, The Kremlin said that Trump and Putin wanted to “intensify” the dialogue in Syria in an attempt to consolidate the cease-fire regime, giving it stability and controllability. In North Korea, the Kremlin said the “head of the Russian state called for restraint and a reduction in the level of tension” before offering to join forces to find a solution.
The pair also reportedly chatted about meeting in Hamburg on July 7-8.
Before Tuesday’s call, they had talked three times on the phone since Trump won the election in November 2016.
Later in the day, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer walked out of the press briefing without taking any questions, which likely would have focused around the details of the call.
