International security

President Trump, Vladimir Putin hold phone call on North Korea, Syria, other security issues

President Trump spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin by phone for more than an hour Tuesday about a range of national security issues, including ways to resolve the Syrian civil war and pressure North Korea into giving up nuclear weapons.

”We had a great call with President Putin," Trump told reporters at the White House. "We're talking about peace in Syria – very important – we’re talking about North Korea. We had a call that lasted almost an hour and a half."

The call came less than two weeks after Trump and Putin met on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific economic conference in Da Nang, Vietnam. Those talks were part of an Asia trip in which Trump tried to persuade Russia, China, and other countries to tighten the diplomatic and economic pressure on North Korea.

In a readout of their latest phone conversation, the White House said in a statement that Trump and Putin discussed "the need to continue international pressure on North Korea to halt its nuclear weapon and missile programs."