Commentary by Aide to the President Yury Ushakov following a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump

Aide to the President Yury Ushakov Ushakov YuryAide to the President : Colleagues,

Since it is December 29 today, and the New Year is just round the corner, an interesting - from a political point of view too - detail can be mentioned: in the outgoing year, President Vladimir Putin held 17 contacts with US representatives. This includes a visit to Alaska, ten telephone conversations with Donald Trump Trump DonaldPresident of the United States of America , and six meetings with his special envoys. What does this mean? You can draw your own conclusions. Now to the telephone conversation.

As agreed earlier, another telephone conversation took place today between the presidents of Russia and the United States. Donald Trump and his key advisers who were present during the call provided a detailed briefing on the main outcomes of yesterday's talks with the Ukrainian delegation at Mar-a-Lago.

In their presentation, that is, the American presentation, during these talks the US side took an assertive stance in promoting the idea that Kiev needs to take real steps towards the final settlement of the conflict instead of using demands for a temporary ceasefire as cover. Zelensky was advised to not even try to secure a respite for his armed forces but instead focus on achieving a comprehensive agreement that would lead to the actual end to the armed conflict.

Donald Trump informed [the President of Russia] about certain results achieved by Zelensky's team precisely in this direction, but which nevertheless, in our assessment, still leave the Kiev authorities room for various interpretations in order to evade fulfilment of their commitments.

And of course, Vladimir Putin drew attention of his counterpart Donald Trump to the fact that practically immediately after what the US side considers a successful round of talks at Mar-a-Lago, the Kiev regime carried out a terrorist attack involving a barrage of long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, an attack on the state residence of the President of Russia in the Novgorod Region.

The Russian side clearly stated that such reckless terrorist acts will, of course, not go unanswered and will meet with the most serious response.

The US President was shocked by this information, literally outraged. He said that he could not even imagine such irrational actions. And, as was stated, this will undoubtedly affect the approaches of the United States in the context of working with Zelensky, to whom the current administration, as Donald Trump himself said, did not, thankfully, give Tomahawks.

Vladimir Putin emphasised that the Russian side intends to continue close and productive work with its US partners in searching for ways to achieve peace. However, naturally, with regard to a number of agreements reached at the previous stage and the newly outlined solutions, Russia's position will be revised. This was stated very clearly, and the Americans should treat this with understanding. Since Kiev is using the state terrorism, the Russian side cannot act otherwise.

Such was the nature of the conversation, at the end of which both presidents, in a very friendly manner, agreed to maintain dialogue onwards.

Thank you very much.