Trump calls Putin, congratulates him on re-election

Washington: On Vladimir Putin’s re-election as the head of the state of Russia, US President Donald Trump rang him up and congratulated him. He  spoke over phone with his Russian counterpart  to congratulate him on and the two leaders discussed the state of bilateral ties and the possibility of a meeting in the near future, the White House said today. Trump emphasised the importance of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula, said a readout of the phone call. Trump also confirmed that he had a "very good" phone call with Putin. "I had a call with President Putin, and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. The call had to do also with the fact that we will probably get together in the not-too-distant future, so that we can discuss arms," Trump told reporters at the White House. "I think probably we'll be seeing President Putin in the not-too-distant future," he said. Trump said Putin had made a statement that being in an arms race was not a great option and emphasised the importance of denuclearising the Korean Peninsula. "We had a very good call, and I suspect that we'll probably be meeting in the not-too-distant future to discuss the arms race, which is getting out of control, but we will never allow anybody to have anything even close to what we have," he asserted. "It was right after the election, one of the first statements he made, and we are spending USD 700 billion there are this year, our military, and a lot of it is that we are going to remain stronger than any other nation in the world by far," Trump said. The two leaders discussed the state of bilateral relations and resolved to continue dialogue about mutual national security priorities and challenges, the White House said. "The two leaders confirmed the need for the United States and Russia to continue our shared efforts on strategic stability," it said. Trump and Putin also discussed Ukraine, Syria, North Korea and various other issues, it added. Putin, who has ruled Russia for almost two decades, secured a landslide victory in a presidential election on Sunday that saw him return to power for a fourth term. He has received calls from a number of leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulating him on his victory.