Trump announced an upcoming conversation with Putin
US President Donald Trump said he has a scheduled phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to the American leader, the conversation should take place “very soon”.
Trump said this during a conversation with journalists outside the White House.
When asked whether he had already spoken with Putin, the US president replied that the call was scheduled. When journalists asked for details on timing, Trump said: “Very soon”.
“We are currently engaged in very deep discussions. We will probably be able to share more details tomorrow,” the US president said.
From the context of the conversation with journalists, one of the topics of the upcoming contact will be the situation surrounding the death of an employee of the Irkutsk Research Anti-Plague Institute in Russia and reports of a possible case of pneumonic plague.
American authorities are monitoring the situation and trying to obtain additional information from the Russian side. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier that Moscow should provide more data on the circumstances of the incident.
“I think Russia should share more information with the world. We are watching this very carefully, literally hour by hour,” Rubio said, as quoted by Reuters.
According to Russian authorities, the institute employee died of pneumonia of unknown origin. Reports of possible infection with the plague pathogen have not been officially confirmed.
The World Health Organization said it is in contact with Russian authorities. According to WHO assessment, the risk of disease spread outside Russia remains “very low” at this time.
Trump previously said the US is ready to offer Russia assistance if the situation turns out to be more serious than currently assumed. Washington also expects Moscow to provide more complete information about the incident.
The upcoming conversation will be another direct contact between Trump and Putin amid Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine and discussions in Washington about further sanctions against Moscow.
The last confirmed phone call between the leaders took place in September. After it, Trump said he continued to seek an agreement to end the war in Ukraine, but acknowledged that the Russia-Ukraine conflict proved more difficult to resolve than he expected.
An additional backdrop for the new contact is the approaching deadline for decisions on new US restrictions against Russia. The US administration must decide on the potential application of sanctions under a law signed by Trump in September. Ukraine previously provided Washington with a list of Russian companies, vessels, and individuals against which it proposes to impose restrictions.
At the same time, Trump himself, announcing the upcoming conversation, did not say whether the war in Ukraine or sanction policy would be a separate topic of the call. So far he only confirmed that the conversation with Putin is scheduled and should take place in the near future.
