President Trump spent an hour on the phone with Vladimir Putin Tuesday, and the two men reportedly did not discuss Russian interference in the U.S. election.
Syria, Iran, North Korea and Ukraine were on the agenda, the White House said.
The call comes one day after Putin met with Syrian President Bashar Assad, whom Trump called "a butcher" back in April after seeing images of Assad's chemical weapons attacks on his own people. "Putin and his government have been one of the chief supporters of the Syrian President's government" and the two leaders were captured hugging in an official photograph from their meeting.
AP:
Putin hosted Assad at a Black Sea resort ahead of a summit later this week with Russia, Turkey and Iran. Assad was called to Russia to get him to agree to potential peace initiatives drafted by Russia, Iran and Turkey, the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin said Putin briefed Trump in the phone call about his talks with the Syrian leader and plans for a political settlement in Syria.
UPDATE: The White House's official readout of the call reiterates news reports that the two men did not discuss Russian election interference.
Read more: Trump and Putin speak by phone about Syria, other hot spots (AP)
Putin to speak with Trump after meeting with Syrian President Assad (CNN)
Trump on Assad: 'That's a butcher' (CNN)
Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia (WhiteHouse.gov)