The conversation between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin took place on March 20, NBC News quoted a source in the White House. President's press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed to RBC that Putin and Trump had a telephone conversation.

"Donald Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on winning the presidential election," the press service of the Kremlin specified. During the conversation, other topics were touched upon. The conversation took place on the initiative of the American side, the Kremlin said.

"The leaders spoke in favor of developing practical cooperation in various areas, including in matters of ensuring strategic stability and combating international terrorism. In particular, the importance of coordinated efforts to limit the arms race was emphasized, "the Kremlin explained. In addition, Putin and Trump discussed the Syrian problem, the internal Ukrainian crisis and the situation on the Korean peninsula.

The leaders also agreed to "develop further bilateral contacts, including taking into account changes in the leadership of the US Department of State." "In general, the conversation was constructive, businesslike and focused on overcoming the accumulated problems in Russian-American relations," the press service of the Kremlin stressed.

This is the first conversation between the leaders of the two countries after the last presidential election in Russia on which Putin, according to preliminary data of the CEC, won with a result of more than 76%.

After the last elections, several telephone conversations between Putin and the leaders of various states took place at once. During their time, the Russian president received congratulations on the victory in the elections, the Kremlin press service reported.

In particular, the presidents telephoned Putin: Azerbaijan - Ilham Aliyev, Armenia - Serzh Sargsyan, Belarus - Alexander Lukashenko, Kirghizia - Sooronbai Jeenbekov, Tajikistan - Emomali Rahmon, Uzbekistan - Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, President of China Xi Jinping, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe and Turkish President Recep Erdogan. March 20 with the victory in the election of Putin was congratulated by King of Jordan Abdullah II and President of South Ossetia Anatoly Bibilov. Earlier, on March 19, Donald Trump did not congratulate Putin on winning the election. The White House said at the same time that they were "not surprised by the result" of the incumbent president. The Kremlin, in turn, was urged not to "consider this an unfriendly step."

Link: https://www.rbc.ru/politics/20/03/20...79474175757ee7