Trump Says Putin "Wants to Help" in Middle Eastern Situation

Washington — US President Donald Trump stated that he held a “very good” telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding the Ukraine crisis and the US-Israel conflict with Iran on Monday 9 March, asserting that the Russian leader “wanted to help” in the Middle East.

“We had a very good conversation and he wanted to be very constructive,” Trump said during a press conference in Florida.

Trump indicated that they discussed the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is now entering its fifth year, during their first telephone conversation since the US and Israel launched major strikes against Iran on 28 February.

It was “a positive conversation on that issue,” Trump stated.

Earlier on Monday, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov described the conversation between the two leaders as “open and frank” and said the discussion lasted approximately one hour.

Ushakov said the Russian president “conveyed some ideas aimed at achieving a quick political and diplomatic resolution” to the conflict following his conversations with Gulf state leaders and the Iranian president, whilst Trump presented his assessment of the developing situation.

The two leaders also discussed Venezuela “in the context of the situation in the global oil market,” Ushakov said.

On the same day, Putin stated that Russia had “repeatedly warned that attempts to destabilise the situation in the Middle East would certainly harm” the global energy market, raise prices, and limit supply.