On the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s congratulations for President-elect Donald Trump after the election, the current and future world leaders spoke with one another over the phone on Monday. Whether or not this means the two men will meet before Trump’s inauguration next January isn’t known. Considering the oft-repeated suggestion that Trump would be a “puppet” of the Kremlin, however, perhaps the Donald will try and distance himself from Russia’s controversial leader at least until after he takes the oath of office on January 20, 2017.
According to Reuters, the Kremlin released a statement describing Trump and Putin’s conversation as one in which they agreed to “return to pragmatic, mutually beneficial cooperation, which would address the interests of both countries as well as stability and safety the world over”:
[They] agreed to “channel” relations between Russia and the United States and “combine efforts to tackle international terrorism and extremism”.
“The importance of creating a solid basis for bilateral ties was underscored, in particularly by developing the trade-economic component,” the Kremlin said in its statement.
Trump’s communications team issued its own statement regarding the chat, saying Putin had “called to offer his congratulations on winning a historic election.” According to the release, Trump told Putin he was “looking forward to having a strong and enduring relationship with Russia and the people of Russia.”
What’s more, Reuters added that Trump and Putin “will maintain contact by phone and seek to meet each other in person” at some point. As for when and where said meeting will take place, no details were provided to the press. Either way, we look forward to the pair’s reality show-based date night in the coming months.
(Via Reuters)