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Trump Calls Putin for Congrats, Possible Bilateral Meeting

Trump called the newly re-elected Russian president to discuss the “state of bilateral relations.”

President Donald Trump called Russian President Vladimir Putin to congratulate him on his recent re-election victory on Tuesday, according to a White House readout and a Kremlin statement. “We had a very good call,” Trump said, according to Bloomberg. He also said that he expects to meet his Russian counterpart “in the not too distant future to discuss the arms race which is getting out of control.” While the Kremlin noted that the two leaders discussed “a possible bilateral meeting,” the White House only stated that they “discussed the state of bilateral relations and resolved to continue dialogue[.]” The White House recognized that Trump and Putin talked about the denuclearization of the North Korean peninsula, while the Kremlin also stated they discussed “the Ukrainian crisis and the 7-year Syrian war.” This comes after the White House said they were “not surprised by the outcome” of the Russian election and said a congratulatory call was not planned. The Kremlin put out an earlier statement saying that they did not consider a congratulatory call from Trump an “unfriendly move.”