FOREIGN POLICY/RUSSIA/SYRIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone on Tuesday [5-2-17] about resolving the conflict in Syria, in their first conversation since American airstrikes targeted the Assad regime in retaliation for an alleged chemical-weapons attack.
The Kremlin described the conversation as ‘businesslike and constructive,’ while the White House issued a statement saying the two leaders agreed that ‘the suffering in Syria has gone on for far too long and that all parties must do all they can to end the violence.’
Messrs. Trump and Putin discussed the creation of ‘interim stability zones’ in Syria as a step toward peace and are to provide humanitarian relief for Syrians who have been in the crossfire of the conflict for some six years, the White House said. The U.S. also committed to sending a representative to talks this week in Kazakhstan about a cease-fire agreement.”
-Carol E Lee and Nathan Hodge, “Trump, Putin Discuss Crises in Syria and on Korean Peninsula,” The Wall Street Journal online, May 2, 2017 6:41pm