Trump calls Putin, talks about limiting arms race, North Korea’s nukes

MOSCOW: US President Donald Trump called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to congratulate him on his re-election, the Kremlin said.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Trump spoke to Putin. She said a summary of the call would be released later.

The Kremlin said in a statement that the two presidents also spoke about the need to “coordinate efforts to limit the arms race” and closer cooperation on strategic stability and counterterrorism.

The statement said they expressed satisfaction with the apparent easing of tensions over North Korea’s weapons programme.

Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that the two leaders didn’t discuss the poisoning of Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal in Britain. British officials have blamed the attack on Russia

The Kremlin said Putin and Trump also discussed the Ukrainian crisis and the Syrian war, talked about expanding economic ties and discussed energy issues.