Vladimir Putin will speak to Donald Trump by telephone on Saturday, the first conversation between the leaders since the US president’s inauguration.
Diplomats and politicians in many world capitals will be watching the call with unease, as Trump’s positive rhetoric on Russia threatens to disrupt the western consensus of keeping pressure on Moscow over intervention in Ukraine. Many US senators, including from the Republican party, are also deeply concerned about the prospect of a major rapprochement with Moscow.
Trump has been steadfast in his praise for Putin and Russia, and ascended to the presidency amid allegations of Russian interference in the election campaign.
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the Russian president would congratulate Trump on taking office and would launch a discussion on the current bilateral relationship. He said it was unlikely there would be specific agreements reached in the initial call.
“This is the first telephone contact since President Trump took office, so one should hardly expect that this phone call will involve substantive discussions across the whole range of issues. We’ll see, let’s be patient,” Peskov said.
On Friday Kellyanne Conway, a White House senior aide, said Trump and Putin were likely to discuss efforts to combat terrorism. Conway told This Morning on CBS: “I assume they will discuss, in the interests of their respective countries, how to come together and work together on issues where you can find common ground and where these two nations could maybe defeat radical Islamic terrorism.”
Trump was also due to speak with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Saturday, a source in Berlin told Reuters, in a call likely to focus on Russia policy.
Trump has hinted he could look at removing sanctions on Russia, and has suggested the US and Russia could work together in Syria, where Russia is allied with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad.
Earlier this month, Trump tweeted: “Both countries will, perhaps, work together to solve some of the many great and pressing problems and issues of the WORLD!”
Last July, he said at a press conference: “Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along with people? Wouldn’t it be nice if we actually got along, as an example, with Russia? I am all for it.”
Trump’s warm feelings towards Russia became one of the biggest talking points in the aftermath of his surprise election victory, with US intelligence agencies releasing a report commissioned by Barack Obama which drew the conclusion that Russia had interfered in the election with the aim of getting Trump elected.
Later, a 35-page dossier of unverified claims about Trump’s supposed Russia linkswas published by BuzzFeed, causing Trump to erupt in fury and call the documents “fake news”.
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