Putin, Trump discuss arms, virus

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump discussed issues relating to COVID-19 and arms control in a phone conversation on Thursday.

The Kremlin and the White House announced the call was made, the second between the two leaders since a phone conversation on June 1.

They also discussed trade and economic cooperation, the Kremlin said in a statement.

"They voiced mutual willingness to boost Russian-US commercial and economic cooperation," it said.

In the conversation the presidents "gave a positive assessment to cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus infection", and the two had agreed to continue contacts at various levels, according to the Kremlin press office.

The situation around the Iran nuclear deal was touched upon. "Both sides emphasized the need for collective efforts to maintain regional stability and the global nuclear nonproliferation regime," the Kremlin said.

Trump and Putin reaffirmed the need to hold Russian-US talks on arms control during their discussion.

According to White House spokesman Judd Deere, Trump reiterated his hope of avoiding an expensive arms race involving China, Russia and the United States, and looked forward to progress on upcoming arms control negotiations in Vienna.

Earlier this month, Fu Cong, director-general of the arms control department of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, made it clear that it is unrealistic to expect China to join US-Russian negotiations on nuclear arms reduction, given the huge gap between the Chinese and US nuclear arsenals in terms of quantity and sophistication.

The only remaining US-Russia arms control pact expires in February 2021. If it is not extended, the world will be without legal restrictions on US and Russian nuclear weapons for the first time in nearly half a century.

Russia has offered to extend the treaty for up to five years, but Trump has rebuffed the offer.

The Kremlin revealed that Trump and Putin discussed in detail issues concerning strategic stability and arms control, taking into consideration "the particular responsibilities of Russia and the US in maintaining international peace and security".

Both leaders confirmed the relevance of bilateral consultations on those issues, including on the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms, known as New START, the Kremlin said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, commenting after the presidents' latest conversation, said cooperation between Moscow and Washington in the sphere of arms control reinforces global security and stability.

Xinhua contributed to the story.