In the Thick of It
A blog on the U.S.-Russia relationship
Putin and Trump on phone calls
Putin and Trump on phone calls
In his call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which lasted two-and-a-half hours on March 18, U.S. President Donald Trump failed to secure the Russian leader’s consent for a comprehensive 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine, with Putin agreeing instead to suspend attacks on energy infrastructure.1 The U.S. and Russian readouts of the call revealed substantive differences between the two sides’ interpretations of the content and outcomes of the March 18 conversation. While the White House version claims that the leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with a 30-day energy and infrastructure ceasefire, the Kremlin version refers to an energy infrastructure ceasefire only. Likewise, the Kremlin readout includes items not mentioned in the White House readout, including a claim that the two leaders discussed “a complete cessation of providing Kyiv with foreign military aid.” The Kremlin's version, more than double the length of the White House readout, provides considerably more detail about the topics discussed, signaling Putin's greater interest in unfreezing the bilateral relationship now that the U.S. no longer treats him as a pariah, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict notwithstanding.2 In a clear effort to encourage Trump to move with Putin toward further normalizing the U.S.-Russian relationship, the Kremlin's readout says the Russian leader praised his U.S. counterpart during the call for “striving to achieve the noble goal of ending the hostilities,” a panegyric not reciprocated in the White House readout.
Some divergence also appears regarding the description of future engagements between the two countries’ governments. For instance, the Kremlin version notes the formation of Russian and American expert task forces to continue bilateral efforts toward a Ukrainian settlement, which is absent from the White House summary. These and other points of divergence are summarized in the table below:
Excerpts fromWhite House readout of the Trump-Putin call on March 18, 2025 Excerpts fromKremlin readout of the Trump-Putin call on March 18, 2025 Differences in the text of the readouts as identified by RM staff
267 words 678 words The length of the Kremlin's readout is more than double the length of the White House’s readout, containing significantly more detail about the various topics discussed, according to the Kremlin. This is clear evidence that Putin—whom the West has previously tried to isolate over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine—is interested in creating an impression that the bilateral relationship is normalizing with multiple items on the agenda.
N/A “The leaders continued their detailed and frank exchange of views on the situation surrounding Ukraine. Vladimir Putin extended gratitude to Donald Trump for his striving to achieve the noble goal of ending the hostilities and loss of life.” The White House readout doesn’t reciprocate the Kremlin readout’s praise for Trump.
“The leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, as well as technical negotiations on implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, full ceasefire and permanent peace.” “During the conversation, Donald Trump put forward a proposal for the parties to mutually refrain from strikes on energy infrastructure for 30 days. Vladimir Putin responded favorably to the proposal and immediately gave the relevant order to the Russian troops.
Just as favorable was the Russian President's response to Donald Trump's suggestion to implement a well-known proposal regarding the safety of navigation in the Black Sea. The leaders agreed to begin talks to further work out specific details of such an agreement.”|The White House version claims that the leaders agreed that the movement to peace will begin with an energy and infrastructure ceasefire, but the Kremlin version refers to energy infrastructure only.
In addition, the White House version mentions technical negotiations on a Black Sea ceasefire. The Kremlin version frames it as Trump suggesting a "well-known proposal" regarding navigation safety, and Putin agreeing to further talks on it. This portrays Putin as responding favorably to a U.S. initiative.|
|N/A|“It was pointed out that a complete cessation of providing Kyiv with foreign military aid and intelligence must become the key condition for preventing an escalation of the conflict and making progress toward its resolution through political and diplomatic means.”|Here, the Kremlin adds items not mentioned in the White House readout, such as cessation of foreign military aid to Ukraine. In comments after the call, Trump insisted that military aid to Ukraine was not discussed at all during the call according toWP. The issue of whether Putin and Trump discussed U.S. military aid to Ukraine during the call remained disputed as ofMarch 19, 2025.|
|“They further discussed the need to stop proliferation of strategic weapons and will engage with others to ensure the broadest possible application.”|“Joint efforts will be made to stabilize the situation in the crisis spots and establish cooperation on nuclear non-proliferation and global security. This will, in turn, contribute to improving the overall ambiance of relations between Russia and the United States.”|Similar information, but the Kremlin version refrains from referring to strategic weapons, emphasizing the need for nuclear non-proliferation instead. This implies Putin’s reluctance to fight proliferation of long-range delivery systems that may have conventional warheads, with his focus instead on nuclear weapons only.|
|“The two leaders agreed that a future with an improved bilateral relationship between the United States and Russia has huge upside. This includes enormous economic deals and geopolitical stability when peace has been achieved.”|“The leaders expressed mutual interest in normalizing the bilateral ties in light of the special responsibility for ensuring global security and stability borne by both Russia and the United States. Within that context, they addressed a wide range of areas where the two countries could establish cooperation, discussing several ideas aimed at fostering potential ties of mutual interest in economy and energy.”|Essentially same information, but the Kremlin’s version is more verbose, portraying Russia as a potential partner of U.S. in “geopolitical stability and peace.”|
|“The leaders spoke broadly about the Middle East as a region of potential cooperation to prevent future conflicts.”|“Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump also addressed some other international issues, including the situation in the Middle East and in the Red Sea region.”|Similar information, but the Kremlin describes the sides as discussing the region rather than agreeing they could cooperate on it, as the White House readout suggests.|
|“The two leaders shared the view that Iran should never be in a position to destroy Israel.”|N/A|Neither Iran nor Israel are mentioned in the Kremlin’s readout. Russia clearly does not want to upset Iran, with which it has increasingly aligned in the past few years.|
|N/A|“Confirming his fundamental commitment to finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict, the President of Russia expressed willingness to thoroughly work out possible solutions in cooperation with the American partners, aimed at reaching a settlement that would be comprehensive, reliable, and lasting, and, naturally, take into account the essential need to eliminate the root causes of the crisis, as well as Russia's legitimate security interests.
Concerning U.S. President's proposal to declare a 30-day ceasefire, the Russian side outlined a number of significant points regarding ensuring effective control over a possible ceasefire along the entire frontline, as well as the need to stop the forced mobilization in Ukraine and rearming the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was noted that some serious risks exist pertaining to the intractability of the Kyiv regime which had repeatedly sabotaged and violated negotiated agreements. An emphasis was made on barbaric acts of terrorism committed by Ukrainian militants against civilians residing in the Kursk Region.”|The White House version is general, while the Kremlin version provides specific details about Putin's favorable response and immediate orders to Russian troops.
The White House readout doesn’t acknowledge Putin’s list of root causes of the conflict or his conditions for a ceasefire, which can both be found in the Kremlin’s readout.|
|N/A|“Referring to Donald Trump's recent appeal to spare the lives of the Ukrainian servicemen surrounded in the Kursk Region, Vladimir Putin confirmed that the Russian side was willing to embrace humanitarian motives and guaranteed that the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine would live and be treated fairly in accordance with Russian legislation and international law in the event of surrender.”|Trump did make an earlier appeal to Putin to spare the allegedly encircled Ukrainian troops, but RM found no evidence of a majorencirclement earlier this week. However, the White House readout did not repeat this appeal in what could be a reflection of changes in Trump’s assessment of whether Ukraine’s forces were or are encircled.|
|N/A|“Vladimir Putin made it known that on March 19, the Russian and Ukrainian sides would carry out an exchange of prisoners, each swapping 175 people. Additionally, as a gesture of goodwill, 23 heavily wounded Ukrainian soldiers currently receiving aid at Russian medical facilities will also be repatriated.”|The White House readout doesn’t contain references to exchanges of POWs.|
|“The blood and treasure that both Ukraine and Russia have been spending in this war would be better spent on the needs of their people.”|“Vladimir Putin extended gratitude to Donald Trump for his striving to achieve the noble goal of ending the hostilities and loss of life.”|The White House version refers to the “blood… spent[t]” in the war, while the Kremlin version refers to “loss of life.”|
|N/A|“The leaders confirmed their intention to continue efforts aimed at reaching a settlement in Ukraine bilaterally, with due regard in particular to the aforementioned proposals by the U.S. President**. For this purpose, a Russian and an American expert task force are now being formed.”**|The White House readout contains no references to establishing the U.S. and Russian expert task forces mentioned in the Kremlin’s readout.|
|N/A|“Donald Trump expressed support for Vladimir Putin's idea to hold ice hockey matches in both the United States and Russia between Russian and American players from the NHL and the KHL.”|The White House readout of the call between Putin—who is an avid hockey player—and Trump—who is a more experienced golfer than Putin is a hockey player—contains no references to hockey games.3|
The divergence of the Kremlin and White House readouts of the March 18 Trump-Putin call reaffirms the existing significant, but not necessarily irreconcilable differences in each sides’ visions of potential pathways to peace. While Trump would want a full-fledged ceasefire soon, ideally followed by negotiations of an equally full-fledged peace deal, Putin—whose troops are still advancing, but slowly—continues to reject a full halt to fighting unless he is given guarantees that Ukraine will not re-arm as Russia and the U.S. (and, possibly, its allies) negotiate some kind of a grand deal that would address not only Russia’s demands vis-à-vis Ukraine, such as demilitarization and neutrality, but also its demands with regard to the (decreasingly) collective West, such as rolling back at least some of NATO’s forward deployments, a halt to this alliance’s further expansion into the former Soviet Union and the lifting of Western sanctions. Prior to the call, Putin knew that an explicit rejection of the ceasefire might have prompted Trump to change his treatment of Russia, derailing progress on the bilateral normalization that he desires. Thus, while rejecting a full-fledged ceasefire, Putin agreed to the deal to refrain from targeting energy (which Ukraine appears to have agreed to in principle, but which is yet to be formalized), but also reiterated his vision of the conditions that would have to be met for him to agree to a peace deal. Deciding whether and what compromises can be reached on these Russian conditions would require the consent not only of Ukraine and the U.S., but also of the EU and U.K., factoring in their visions of peace and conditions for it, and thus continuing to complicate prospects for achieving a comprehensive and sustainable peace deal.
Footnotes
A halt to attacks on energy was originally proposed by France and then supported by Ukraine before the March 18 call.
Thus, the call itself is a victory for Putin, according to Russia analyst Tatiana Stanovaya.
An important cultural note: students of Russian culture have pointed to a triad of sources of Soviet/Russian national pride: (1) defeat of the Nazis in WWII; (2) space exploration; and (3) the Olympic Games (in particular ice sports, such as figure skating and ice hockey).
Photos by Alexander Kazakov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File and Shealah Craighead (Official White House Photo).