by Itunuoluwa Adebo
President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on phone Tuesday about the war in Syria for the first time since Trump ordered a missile strike against a Syrian regime air base last month.
In a White House statement, Trump and Putin discussed the need to “end the violence” in Syria and discussed Trump’s proposal to create safe zones. The two leaders also discussed terrorism in the Middle East more broadly and the dangers of the North Korean nuclear program.
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Trump also agreed to send a representative to Syrian cease-fire talks in Kazakhstan that begin Wednesday.
“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 White House statement said. “The conversation was a very good one.”
The Kremlin readout of the call said it focused on “the prospect of coordinating Russian and US actions” in fighting terrorism in Syria and that the two leaders agreed to “intensify” talks through the US secretary of state and Russian foreign minister and that the major goal was to launch a real settlement process in Syria.
The phone call was the third between the two leaders since Trump took office in January and comes as relations between the US and Russia have once again soured despite Trump’s expressed desire to improve ties between the two countries. The Russian government has also refused to accept the international consensus that Syria carried out a chemical attack on its own civilians which prompted the US strike.
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