Trump and Putin talk on phone about arms control and COVID-19 economic recovery

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone Thursday and discussed arms control and economic recovery in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the Washington Times reports. Although this is the first time the two leaders have talked since allegations emerged that Russia had offered bounties for Afghan militants to kill US soldiers, neither the White House nor the Kremlin made mention of this issue in their statements about the call.

The White House statement said Trump and Putin discussed “critical bilateral and global issues.” The statement said the US President “reiterated his hope of avoiding an expensive three-way arms race between China, Russia, and the United States and looked forward to progress on upcoming arms control negotiations in Vienna.”

The Kremlin statement said the leaders had talked about arms control and Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Moreover, the Kremlin said, the leaders expressed had stated a mutual ambition to develop trade and economic interaction between their two countries,” the Washington Times reported.

As the US-Russia New START arms control treaty draws near to its expiry in February, officials from the two countries held talks in June about bringing China into a new trilateral treaty, the Hill reported. However, China has thus rejected calls to join negotiations.

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