CNN’s Dana Bash reported on Tuesday that a “Russian source” told the network that a lengthy phone call between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin “went very well.”
CNN reported the news following Trump and Putin reportedly speaking for over an hour. Trump has been negotiating a ceasefire deal to bring an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the White House has yet to divulge any details of the call. Critics expressed concern around the talks after Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had a heated exchange in front of cameras at the White House, with Trump telling the Ukrainian leader to be more “grateful” for U.S. support.
Bash admitted the positive words about the call weren’t much to go on, but CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward argued it showed how Putin looks at his relationship with Trump and how the negotiations elevate Putin’s standing globally.
She said:
I think what you can read into that is that the Kremlin is very pleased with this whole apparatus, with the whole appearance that it gives Putin on the world stage what he longs for more than anything, is to be seen. Russia to be seen as a great power, central to world peace, making deals. They are desperate to see those sanctions against them lifted, and not so much to be rehabilitated per se, but at least to reclaim the position that they believe is rightfully theirs.
