Historic Moment: What to Expect From the First Official Phone Call Between Putin and Trump
SputnikNews.com
28.01.2017
The highly anticipated telephone call between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will take place on Saturday at 8 pm Moscow time (12 pm in Washington, DC). Sputnik presents what we know so far about the topics likely to be discussed by the two leaders during the historic telephone call.
On Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed that President Putin will be the sole participant from the Russian side in his telephone conversation with Donald Trump. Earlier, the White House reported that Vice President Mike Pence would be sitting in on President Trump’s conversation with the Russian leader, and would join the discussion.
As far as the conversation’s subject matter is concerned, all that is known for sure is that Putin will formally congratulate Trump on assuming office as the 45th president of the United States. Otherwise, Peskov and the Kremlin have been tight-lipped about the subjects to be discussed. “Of course, usually during such contacts there is an exchange of views on the main parameters of the current state of bilateral relations,” the spokesman said Friday.
The White House has also been rather hush-hush about the talks, but has dropped hints about at least one possible topic of discussion. On Thursday, President Trump told Fox News that Putin called him after his election victory to offer his congratulations, but that the two men didn’t have a substantive discussion. More than anything, Trump said that he would like it if Moscow and Washington could fight Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) together.
“I don’t know Putin, but if we can get along with Russia, that’s a great thing,” Trump said. “It’s good for Russia, it’s good for us; we go out together and knock the hell out of ISIS, because that’s a real sickness,” he added.
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