Moscow • President Donald Trump congratulated Russian President Vladimir Putin on his re-election victory in a phone call on Tuesday, the Kremlin said.
At the White House, Trump confirmed the call and said he congratulated Putin “on the victory.” Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said he and Putin would get together “in the not-too-distant future.”
Some world leaders have hesitated to congratulate Putin, since his re-election occurred in an environment of state control of much of the news media and his most prominent opponent was barred from the ballot.
“Donald Trump congratulated Vladimir Putin on his victory in the presidential election,” the Kremlin said.
Beyond the congratulations, it said, the two leaders discussed Syria, Ukraine, North Korea and arms control. The two also discussed a potential meeting, the Kremlin said.
“Special attention was paid to making progress on the question of holding a possible meeting at the highest level,” the Kremlin’s statement about the phone call said. “In all, the conversation carried a constructive, businesslike character and was oriented toward overcoming the problems that have piled up in U.S.-Russian relations.”
In confirming the conversation, Trump told reporters: “I had a call with President Putin and congratulated him on the victory, his electoral victory. The call had to do, also, with the fact that we will probably get together in the not-too-distant future so that we can discuss arms, we can discuss the arms race. As you know, he made a statement that being in an arms race is not a great thing, that was right after the election, one of the first statements he made. And we are spending $700 billion this year on our military, and a lot of it is that we are going to remain stronger than any other nation in the world, by far.”
Trump continued: “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 even close to what we have, and also to discuss Ukraine and Syria and North Korea and various other things.”
Trump’s comments came early Tuesday afternoon as reporters shouted questions at him in the Oval Office during a short photo opportunity with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is visiting for the day.
The White House said the two leaders touched on “bilateral relations and resolved to continue dialogue about mutual national security priorities and challenges.” It said Trump also “emphasized the importance of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.”
The statement added that both leaders “confirmed the need” to continue “shared efforts on strategic stability,” without giving further details.
At the Kremlin, a statement noted that arms issues were also discussed.
“The leaders said they would work to develop practical cooperation in various directions, including in questions of assuring strategic stability and fighting international terrorism,” the Kremlin said. “Among other things, the need to coordinate efforts to limit an arms race was discussed.”
The call appeared to catch U.S. lawmakers by surprise, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) promptly criticized it.
“An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections,” McCain wrote on Twitter. “And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election.”
Putin won a fourth presidential term in Sunday’s Russian election, allowing him to serve until 2024. He took 77 percent of the votes, with 68 percent turnout, the government said. But Putin barely campaigned, opposition activist Alexei Navalny was barred from the ballot, and reports of ballot-stuffing and people being ordered to vote by their employers rolled in throughout election day.
In separate comments Tuesday, Trump repeated his warnings of a possible U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal, which was negotiated during the Obama administration between Iran and six world powers, including Russia and the United States.
Trump faces a May 12 deadline to decide whether to keep in place a waiver on economic sanctions that were lifted in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program. If Trump does not sign the waiver, the pre-deal U.S. sanctions would automatically go back into effect.
Russia and U.S. allies in Europe strongly support the Iran deal and worry that a U.S. rebuff could leave it in tatters.
“Well, we’re going to see what happens,” Trump told reporters.
“You’re going to see what I do,” he added. “But Iran has not been treating that part of the world or the world itself appropriately. A lot of bad things are happening in Iran. The deal is coming up in one month, and you’ll see what happens. OK?”
The Washington Post’s Johnson reported from Washington. Karen DeYoung, William Branigin and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.