Russia Trump claims to have spoken to Putin on the phone - timing unclear
In an interview, US President Donald Trump has reported an alleged conversation with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin about the war in Ukraine. However, according to the New York Post, he left open when the phone call is said to have taken place. According to the report, the interview was conducted on board the presidential plane Air Force One on Saturday night, but the tabloid has only now published excerpts from it without the exact wording. When asked how often he had spoken to the Russian president, Trump replied: "I better not say."
09.02.2025, 07:19
09.02.2025, 07:20
SDA
The Republican had recently responded conspicuously evasively to questions about whether he had already spoken to Putin on the phone since taking office on January 20. The White House usually publishes information about the exchange shortly after a conversation between the US president and another head of state or government - albeit only briefly. An inquiry by Deutsche Presse-Agentur to the US National Security Council initially went unanswered.
A few days after Trump's election victory in November, the Washington Post reported on a phone call between the 78-year-old and Putin, citing informed sources. However, the Kremlin denied at the time that a conversation had taken place. On Friday, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that information would be provided as soon as there was substantial information about an exchange between Trump and the Russian president.
"Let's get these meetings going"
According to the New York Post, National Security Advisor Mike Waltz was also on board the plane during the interview. Turning to him, Trump is said to have said - possibly alluding to Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky - "Let's get these meetings going. They want to meet. People are dying every day. Young, good-looking soldiers are being killed. Young men, like my sons. On both sides. Everywhere on the battlefield."
According to the report, Trump emphasized, as he has done several times before, that he has a "good relationship" with the Kremlin chief. He also once again held his predecessor Joe Biden partly responsible for the war between Russia and Ukraine and claimed that it would not have come to this with him in office. Trump also assured that he had a plan to end the war.
Biden last spoke to Putin on the phone in February 2022, a few days before the Kremlin leader launched the war of aggression against Ukraine. During the election campaign, Trump repeatedly claimed that he could end the war within 24 hours - without, however, specifying how he envisioned this. There are fears in Ukraine that the USA could drastically reduce its support for the attacked country under Trump and force a peace settlement from which Russia would effectively emerge victorious.
