Kremlin Spokesman Says Telephone Conversation between Putin, Trump under Consideration

A telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump is currently under consideration but there are no plans for their personal meeting yet, Russian Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"There is no information on their meeting yet. A telephone conversation is under consideration but we don’t have any more information," the Kremlin spokesman said, adding that a date for a possible telephone conversation will be agreed upon shortly.

According to Peskov, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has been working on it. "There is a standard procedure for initiating such telephone conversations, it does not require any special contacts," Peskov explained, TASS reported.

"These things have not been discussed yet," he said in response to a question if Putin and Trump could hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an international summit or an international forum.

"There is no sense in considering it just yet. After the telephone conversation, if the leaders believe it reasonable to decide on a personal meeting, then preparations (for it) will begin," Peskov stressed.

Peskov said earlier in an interview with BBC that it could take months, not weeks, to arrange a meeting between the two presidents. At the same time, he emphasized Russia’s readiness to participate in such a meeting.

The Kremlin believes it is possible to discuss the initiatives of new US President Donald Trump only after the contacts of the new administration with Moscow begin.

"It is early now to speak about any initiatives as at the moment President Trump is only getting into the swing of things," Peskov told reporters. "And here, certainly, there is the need to wait for the beginning of some contacts, so far this has not happened."

Peskov commented on the words of the US president that the (so called) Islamic terrorism is one of the biggest threats. He stressed that that the Islamic fundamentalism and terrorism remain one of threats for all countries, including Russia.

He recalled the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin that there is no alternative to cooperation in the fight against terrorism and a country cannot separately fight efficiently against this "most terrible challenge of the 21th century.