Kremlin reveals Putin-Trump call details

Spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the presidents spoke for nearly 1.5 hours and have agreed to meet soon on neutral territory

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, spoke for nearly 90 minutes by phone on Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has confirmed, adding that the two heads of state had agreed to first meet in a third country, with official state visits likely to follow.

The call marks the first known direct interaction between the US and Russian heads of state since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022.

In an interview with Russia 1 television on Thursday, Peskov described the conversation as constructive, adding that the two leaders concurred that the administration of Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had done “enormous damage” to US-Russian relations. Putin and Trump agreed that “even the most complex problems should be resolved through peace negotiations,” according to Peskov.

Aside from extending invitations to each other to visit their respective nations, the two heads of state “agreed to quite swiftly organize and hold a working meeting somewhere in a third country,” the official stated.

Hours after the phone call on Wednesday, Trump told journalists at the White House that the talks would take place in Saudi Arabia.

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Peskov, in turn, pointed out that “no decision has been made as to where it will take place, but Saudi Arabia indeed cropped up.” The Russian official added that “both Russia and the US said that [Saudi Arabia] is a place that really suits everyone,” given both nations enjoy good relations with the monarchy.

Peskov noted that the fact that both presidents had expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue was a “very important achievement” that has “set in motion an apparatus of aides, ministries and so on, that will now gradually begin dialogue and prepare the next contacts.”

The Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on which side had initiated the call, merely stating that “President Trump, already during his campaign and after the elections before the inauguration, said that he was going to call President Putin.”

In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump wrote that he and the Russian president had among other things talked about the “great benefit that we will someday have in working together,” as well as their shared desire to put an end to the Ukraine conflict.