Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, was friendly and substantive.
According to Ushakov, Trump congratulated Putin on his recent birthday, which had earlier been prevented by a scheduling mismatch between the two leaders.
"The US president wanted to congratulate Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin personally by phone, and we began looking for a convenient window for this in the two presidents' schedules, taking into account, of course, the time difference between Moscow and Washington, and also the fact that the Russian president was flying out on the morning of October 8 to a CIS summit in Turkmenistan," the presidential aide explained.
The agreement on the telephone conversation was reached on Wednesday during contacts with US negotiator Steve Witkoff. As Ushakov noted, Trump postponed pre-planned events for the sake of this conversation.
During the conversation, the presidents devoted great attention to the prospects for settling the situation in Ukraine. Ushakov particularly noted that whereas in the previous conversation between the presidents there was talk of the possibility of resuming trilateral negotiations with the participation of the US and Ukraine immediately after the State Duma elections, the situation has now changed.
"By its attempts to disrupt our elections, delivering an ultra-massive drone strike on the main voting day against Moscow, other cities and polling stations, against specific people connected with organizing the elections, the Kyiv regime essentially disrupted the possibility of an immediate resumption of the negotiating process," the aide said.
Putin also made it clearly understood that Moscow's position regarding the goals and objectives of the SMO is unchanged, as is its readiness for talks to achieve a long-term sustainable peace.
The president spoke in detail about countermeasures in response to terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime. He noted that Ukraine has bet on escalation and prolonging the conflict.
"Now, as the president said (Putin. - Editor's note), we will think about when these negotiations can be resumed," the presidential aide added.
At the same time, according to Ushakov, Putin stressed that the Russian Armed Forces fully hold the initiative and are advancing in the SMO zone, while attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to stop the offensive have no prospects.
The Russian leader also said that he appreciates the attention the US president devotes to dialogue with Moscow. Both sides expressed satisfaction with the work of communication channels through the administrations, special services and other agencies of the two countries.
Other statements by Ushakov:
- Trump will instruct that signals received from Russian President Vladimir Putin be conveyed to the Ukrainian delegation that is in Miami;
- Putin, in his conversation with Trump, noted the need to negotiate with Iran;
- the leaders of Russia and the US are interested in taking part in the APEC summit;
- the question of holding a bilateral meeting between Putin and Trump has not yet been discussed in concrete terms;
- the White House host during the telephone conversation conveyed greetings to the Russian leader from his wife Melania;
- Putin, for his part, conveyed to Melania Trump words of gratitude for her humanitarian activity and efforts to reunite families separated during the Ukrainian conflict;
- Ombudsman Yana Lantratova will be in constant contact with the office of US First Lady Melania Trump regarding the situation in Aleshki.
The telephone conversation between Putin and Trump took place on Friday evening. Trump announced a large-scale agreement in the energy sphere. According to him, Russia, depending on the state of its oil refineries, will supply up to three million tons of diesel fuel to the US and the world market in the shortest possible time. At the same time, Moscow is ready to supply 300,000 tons right now, 500,000 in November and another million immediately after that. This information was later confirmed to journalists by Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.
The US Treasury will immediately issue a temporary general license permitting such supplies. Thus, all operations related to the sale, delivery, unloading and import of diesel of Russian origin, including entry into the United States, are permitted until April 7.