By Ellen Nakashima, John Hudson and Josh Dawsey
President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, the first phone conversation between the two men since Trump won the election, said several people familiar with the matter.
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During the call, which Trump took from his resort in Florida, he advised the Russian president not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of Washington’s sizable military presence in Europe, said a person familiar with the call, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter.
The two men discussed the goal of peace on the European continent and Trump expressed an interest in follow-up conversations to discuss “the resolution of Ukraine’s war soon,” one of the people said.
In his presidential campaign, Trump said he would bring an immediate end to the war in Ukraine, though did not offer details about how he intended to do so. He has signaled privately that he would support a deal where Russia kept some captured territory, and during the call he briefly raised the issue of land, people familiar with the matter said.
The call, which has not been previously reported, comes amid general uncertainty about how Trump will reset the world’s diplomatic chessboard of U.S. allies and adversaries after his decisive victory on Tuesday. Trump told NBC on Thursday that he had spoken to about 70 world leaders since the election, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — a call that Elon Musk also joined.
Ukrainian officials have been informed of the Putin call and did not object to the conversation taking place, said two people familiar with the matter. Ukrainian officials have long understood that Trump would engage with Putin on a diplomatic solution to the war, the people said.
Trump’s initial calls with world leaders are not being conducted with the support of the State Department and U.S. government interpreters. The Trump transition team has yet to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration, a standard procedure for presidential transitions. Trump and his aides are distrustful of career government officials following the leaked transcripts of presidential calls during his first term. “They are just calling [Trump] directly,” one of the people familiar with the calls said.
“President Trump won a historic election decisively and leaders from around the world know America will return to prominence on the world stage. That is why leaders have begun the process of developing stronger relationships with the 45th and 47th President because he represents global peace and stability,” said Steven Cheung, Trump’s communications director, in an email.
Moscow initially responded coolly to Trump’s win, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov telling reporters that Putin had no plans to call the incoming president of “an unfriendly country that is directly and indirectly involved in a war against our state.”
But on Thursday, Putin publicly congratulated Trump on his victory, praising his “manly” response to the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, and said he was “ready” to speak with Trump.
Peskov did not immediately respond to a request for comment. After this report was published, the Kremlin on Monday denied the call took place, with Peskov saying it was “completely untrue.”
Earlier Sunday, a journalist with the Russian state TV channel Rossiya, Pavel Zarubin, published an interview with Peskov in which the Kremlin spokesman said the signs for an improvement in relations under a Trump presidency were “positive.”
“Trump talked during his campaign about how he sees everything through deals, that he can make a deal that will lead everyone to peace. At least he talks about peace, not about confrontation and the desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” Peskov said.
While President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s strategy in relation to Ukraine was predictable, Peskov added, “Trump is less predictable, and also [it] is less predictable to what extent Trump will stick to the statements he made during the election campaign. Let’s wait and see.”
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