The Kremlin noted in its readout of the call that the two leaders exchanged greetings ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Nazi defeat in World War II, emphasizing the historic significance of the WWII alliance between our peoples that allowed (us) to defeat the common enemy.
That deal was seen as a cornerstone of global security and its burial sparked fears of a new arms race.
New START — which obliged them to halve the number of missile launchers and set up a new verification regime — is seen as the last major deal keeping their arsenals below the Cold War peak.
The two leaders discussed progress on defeating the coronavirus pandemic, with Trump reiterating that the United States is working hard to care for Americans at home and is also ready to provide assistance to any country in need, including Russia.
Earlier in April, Trump and Putin discussed efforts to combat COVID-19 and ensure global energy market stability during a phone conversation.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies led by Russia, a group known as OPEC+, reached earlier a tentative agreement to cut production to stop a market free-fall amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier, Putin had said that the situation in Russia is “generally under control”, and the Government promised to ramp up testing numbers.
On Thursday, the United States recorded 2,448 coronavirus deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 75,543, according to the latest real-time tally reported by Johns Hopkins University.
The country — hardest hit by the pandemic in terms of the number of fatalities — has now confirmed a total of 1,254,750 cases, the Baltimore-based school reported.
