Putin, Trump discuss political settlement in Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, held a phone call late Tuesday, where they discussed means of mutual cooperation in dealing with tensions in the Korean Peninsula and in Syria as well as coordinating efforts to fight terrorism and promote peace in the country.

The Kremlin said in a statement that the two leaders have decided to activate the dialogue between the foreign ministries of both countries, find options to secure and stabilize the ceasefire and create the prerequisites to launch a real settlement process in Syria.

“The Russia’s foreign minister and the US secretary of state would inform their leaders about progress in this regard”, the statement added.

The White House also issued a similar statement saying that during their phone call, the two leaders have agreed that the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence .

The conversation was a very good one, and included the discussion of safe, or de-escalation, zones to achieve lasting peace for humanitarian and many other reasons, the statement added.

It also said that the United States will send a representative to the cease-fire talks in Astana, Kazakhstan on May 3-4.

“Both leaders also discussed at length working together to eradicate terrorism throughout the Middle East,” the statement explained. Finally, they spoke about how best to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea, calling for restraint and reduction of tensions.

As for the future meetings between the two leaders, the two presidents welcomed the holding of their first one-on-one meeting in July on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.