MOSCOW, July 5 -- Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke by phone on Saturday, twenty days after their previous conversation, in what was their fourteenth call since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

The previous call came on June 14, when Putin telephoned to mark Trump's 80th birthday. The two discussed bilateral relations and Ukraine on that occasion; Saturday's call followed faster. In the eighteen months since Trump's inauguration, the two leaders have held a conversation roughly once every five to six weeks, a pace that gives Moscow consistent direct access to the US president ahead of nearly every significant diplomatic event on the calendar.

In 2025, the two men spoke ten times: February 12, March 18, May 19, June...