U.S. President Donald Trump said he had a “great” phone conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin before departing the White House for Thanksgiving Day.
The call came a day after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s surprise visit to the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday where he met with Putin. The U.S. and Russia remain divided over how to resolve the conflict in Syria and the future of Assad.
The U.S. and Russian leaders affirmed support for the joint statement they issued this month, aiming to bridge the divide in the Syrian conflict and rejuvenate reconciliation efforts in the war-torn country.
“We had a great call with President Putin,” Trump told reporters Tuesday, according to C-Span.
He noted that the phone talks covered topics ranging from “peace in Syria,” North Korea and Ukraine.
Russian lawmakers lauded the talks, with head of the State Deputy Committee on Foreign Affairs Leonid Slutsky seizing on the “opportunities to recover constructive and business-like ties," the state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Konstantin Kosachev, the head of the Federation Council's Committee on Foreign Affairs, wrote on Facebook that the phone talks highlighted an “extensive agenda” in bilateral relations.
Franz Klintsevich, deputy chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for Defense and Security, described on social media Putin’s back-to-back with Assad and Trump “an example of honest and open policy.”
