Trump to hold telephone conversation with Putin on May 2
By Kamila Aliyeva
U.S. President Donald Trump will have a phone talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 2, the White House said.
A senior Trump administration official said the two leaders would likely discuss the civil war in Syria, where Moscow backs the government of Bashar al-Assad and the United States supports rebels trying to overthrow him.
On April 4, the National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces claimed that 80 people were killed and 200 injured in a suspected chemical attack in Khan Sheikhoun, putting the blame on the Syrian government. Damascus vehemently rejected the accusations and said militants and their allies were responsible.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Syrian Air Force hit a warehouse where militants stored chemical weapons, which were sent to Iraq. The Russian side reminded that the Syrian government doesn't possess chemical weapons since mid-2014. Chemical weapons have been taken out of the country.
Nevertheless, the U.S. has blamed Moscow's ally and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of the deadly attack that killed scores of civilians and launched missile strikes against one of the regime's airbases in retribution last month.
Trump said after the cruise missile attack that the United States' relationship with Moscow "may be at an all-time low." U.S. leader also stated that he's hopeful he can improve relations with Putin but "we're going to see what happens."
Putin also underlined that the level of trust with Washington under U.S. President Donald Trump degraded.
Following the attack, the meeting between Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin was held in order to reduce tensions arising from situation in Syria. However, this meeting was used by two sides to reassert their firm stances on Syria rather than coming to a common compromise, according to experts.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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