Washington, March 18 (IANS) US President Donald Trump and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin have been on the phone for more than an hour and the White House said “the call is going well”.
A readout of the call will be issued later.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the US plan for a 30-day ceasefire in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Kyiv has already conveyed its acceptance of the plan.
Putin has supported it in-principle but put forward certain conditions: chiefly, Ukraine will not use the ceasefire to mobilise or train troops or receive military support.
“Happening Now — President Trump is currently in the Oval Office speaking with President Vladimir Putin of Russia since 10 a.m. EDT,” Dan Scavino, Deputy Chief of Staff to President Trump, wrote on X.
“The call is going well, and still in progress.”
He posted an update 40 minutes later: “Update: Call still in progress…”
President Trump first announced his plans for a call late Sunday on the way back to Washington D.C. from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The call follows talks between Steve Witkoff, Trump’s West Asia envoy, and President Putin in Moscow last week.
Witkoff has said the meeting lasted three to four hours.
That meeting came on the heels of a meeting between the US’s Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the National Security Advisor (NSA) Mike Waltz with Ukrainian officials in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of the Tuesday call, H.R. McMaster, former NSA to Trump administration in the first term, told Fox News, Putin’s strategy “to get Trump and the US to accept a deal that is unacceptable to the Ukrainians and then try to turn the US not only against Ukraine but against Europe”.
The call marks a significant step in President Trump’s efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war, which he has maintained would never have taken place if he was in office at the time.
–IANS
yrj/khz
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