At the same time, Putin was open to a continuation of the negotiations with Ukraine. Putin “also spoke about the willingness of the Russian side to continue the negotiation process,” said Uschakow about the phone call that took almost an hour. He called the conversation “open”. It was the sixth phone call between the two presidents since Trump’s office in January.
So far there have been two rounds of direct discussions between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul. However, they remained without results.
Moscow demands Kiev to cede four partially occupied regions in addition to the 2014 annexed Crimea and to forego NATO accession. These conditions are unacceptable for Ukraine.
According to information from Moscow, the two presidents also talked about the situation in the Middle East, including the war between Israel and Iran last month. According to Uschakow, Putin advocated a solution “exclusively with political and diplomatic means”.
Trump and Putin also confirmed their “mutual interest” in the implementation of a series of “promising economic projects”. In particular, this included the areas of energy and space research, said Uschakow.
