The Slatest

Are Putin and Trump Getting Along Again?

Vladimir Putin speaks on the phone on March 4, 2012.

Alexey Druzhinin/AFP/Getty Images

For all the scrutiny of Donald Trump’s ties to Vladimir Putin, there’s been little evidence so far of improved relations between the two countries. U.S. sanctions on Russia remain in place, Trump is being described as impulsive and dangerous by the once-friendly Russian media, Russian jets have repeatedly buzzed Alaska, and—most dramatically—Trump abruptly changed course on Syria last month by ordering a missile strike on Russian ally Bashar al-Assad’s air force. So anticipation was high for the telephone conversation between the two leaders Tuesday, the first since the April 7 strike.

According to the White House, the conversation was a “very good one.” The Kremlin more guardedly called it “businesslike” and “constructive.”

One big piece of news from the White House readout is that the U.S. will send an envoy to upcoming Russian-led Syria peace talks in Astana, Kazakhstan. The administration hadn’t sent an envoy to previous rounds of those talks, dispatching only the ambassador to Kazkhstan as an observer. The other is that the two leaders discussed a Russian plan to establish “safe or de-escalation” zones in Syria.

Bloomberg reported earlier Tuesday that Russia is pushing a plan to establish four buffer zones, manned by troops from Russia, Iran, and Turkey, in areas where fighting between regime and rebel forces has continued despite a recent cease-fire agreement. It’s hard to judge the plan based on what we know so far, but the Syrian opposition is likely to be skeptical. The safe zones they’ve been calling for the U.S. to enforce have been to protect them from Russian and regime forces, and they are likely to view this as a de facto occupation.

It remains to be seen what will come of these initiatives. But both make it sound as if, the events of the past few weeks notwithstanding, Trump is following Putin’s lead on Syria, or at least not pushing back systematically on the Russian government’s plans for the conflict.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin’s account of the call, though not the White House’s, says that the two are planning to organize a meeting in person on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg in July.

It was a busy day for Putin, who also hosted German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Sochi—her first trip to Russia since 2015. In addition to Syria, the two leaders, who have a famously testy relationship, discussed Ukraine, the detention and abuse of gay men in Chechnya, and recent Russian crackdowns on demonstrators and NGOs.

None of this seems to have come up in the conversation with Trump.