“Putin treated me with great respect”: Trump admitted that he called the Russian president immediately after his re-election

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that one of his first calls after being re-elected was to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who responded “with great respect.”

Trump made this remark during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House.

“Before I took office, there was no communication with Russia, and Russia wasn’t answering calls. When I came into office, one of the first calls I made was to Putin, and he responded with great respect. They want to put an end to this war,” Trump said.

The first official announcement of a phone conversation between the U.S. and Russian presidents was made on February 12. However, prior to that, there had been multiple unofficial reports about their discussions.

Previously, Trump’s special envoy, Steven Witkoff, had spoken about the U.S. president’s friendly relationship with Putin.

Meanwhile, today it became known that Trump and Putin are discussing an agreement on joint mineral resource development.