Putin Stress Importance of Maintaining Syria’s Sovereignty, Independence and Territorial Integrity: Kremlin

MOSCOW- Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Donald Trump of the US, who had arranged a telephone conversation, discussed the pressing aspects of the Syrian problem with accounts of the completing military operation against terrorists in Syria, the Kremlin press service said.

 The presidents expressed satisfaction with the conversation that the Kremlin press service called “businesslike and meaningful”.

“Putin stressed readiness to facilitate a durable political settlement process in Syria on the basis of the UN Security Council’s Resolution 2254 in the spirit of agreements reached in the Astana format and provisions of the Joint Statement the two Presidents endorsed on November 11 at the APEC summit in Vietnam,” the report said, according to Itar Tass.

 “The sides stated among other things that the statement had produced an encouraging reaction in the Middle East,” it said.

The interlocutors also mentioned the importance of maintaining Syria’s sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. This should be done in the groundwork of principles to be mapped out in the course of pan-Syrian negotiations and Russia’s initiative for convening the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi later this year targets exactly this objective, it said.

Putin informed Trump on the results of the November 20 meeting with President Bashar al-Assad.

In addition to it, emphasis was made on the trilateral talks that the Presidents of Russia, Iran and Turkey are supposed to hold in Sochi on November 22. The three Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyib Erdogan, and Hassan Rouhani plan to coordinate steps towards further normalization in Syria, the press service said.

Putin once again spoke in favor of launching further efforts together with the U.S. to rebuff terrorism. The Russian President noted importance of coordinated steps between the two countries’ intelligence services and Trump supported him.

Trump says he had “great call” with Putin

Trump described the conversation with Putin as a “great call.”

“We had a great call with President Putin. We’re talking about peace in Syria – very important. We’re talking about North Korea,” the US leader told reporters before his departure to Florida

H.M