President Trump on Tuesday said he would be meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, “in the not-too-distant future” to talk about the nuclear arms race, tensions in North Korea and the situation in war-torn Syria.
“We had a very good call and I suspect that we will 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 close to what we have,” Trump said, referring to his earlier call to Putin on his re-election victory.
Trump said the two leaders would also talk about Syria, North Korea and “various other things.”
The White House confirmed that Trump called Putin on Tuesday after the Russian leader’s widely expected election win on Sunday giving him another six-year term.
In a victory speech, the 65-year-old Putin said, “Nobody plans to accelerate an arms race.”
“We will do everything to resolve all the differences with our partners using political and diplomatic channels,” he said.
Word of the conversation comes just hours after the Kremlin said Putin didn’t feel slighted that Trump snubbed him after he won re-election Sunday, advising that it would make sense to “sleep on it.”
“This should not be regarded as an unfriendly step. Putin remains open to normalizing relations with our US partners, where it is of interest and crucial,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier Tuesday.
“The president has been getting many congratulatory messages from foreign leaders. Some may be unable to make a phone call due to a tight schedule, and others, for a different reason,” he continued. “There is no reason to make a mountain out of a molehill about anything here. Lastly, there is a good old saying: ‘Sleep on it.'”
Peskov said heads of state from around the world were still reaching out with well wishes.
“Some telephone conversations are under way at the moment. We’ll brief you on them,” Peskov said.
Putin was widely expected to win re-election to his fourth term as opposition leaders and monitoring groups raised accusations of voting irregularities, including ballot stuffing and voter coercion.
Asked Monday if the White House believed the election was free and fair, deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said: “We’re not surprised by the outcome.”
Relations between the two Cold War foes have been tense after Russia interfered in the 2016 US presidential election.
A number of congressional panels as well as special counsel Robert Mueller are investigating Russia’s actions.
Last month, Mueller indicted 13 Russians on charges they ran a disinformation campaign in an effort to sow chaos while supporting Trump over Hillary Clinton.
And last week, the Trump administration announced sanctions against a number of Russian individuals and organizations for carrying out “malicious cyberattacks” during the election.
