You're reading: Trump’s Russia policy moves towards action

U.S. President Donald Trump made tepid first moves towards a fundamental shift in American policy towards Russia this week, as Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to hold a phone conversation on Jan. 28.

The phone call will come days after White House aides floated the cancellation of Obama-era sanctions on Russia over the annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine.

Russian media sources report that the conversation is scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. (12 midday EST), though American sources do not specify the time.

The call will be the first between the Russian and U.S. leaders since November 2016 when Putin called to congratulate Trump on his election victory.

White House adviser Kellyanne Conway confirmed some of the topics to be discussed in a Jan. 27 television appearance. On “Fox and friends”, a program on the conservative-leaning U.S. TV channel Fox News, Conway said that speaking about removing sanctions that Barack Obama administration put on Russian diplomats is “under consideration.”

The first round of the U.S. sanctions on Russia was announced on Mar. 17, 2014, a day after the referendum that was used as justification for Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea; another three rounds followed shortly. On Dec. 29, 2016 the Obama administration announced additional sanctions on Russian intelligence services in response to the hacks of American political institutions during the 2016 election season.

According to Conway, Trump and Putin will also discuss fighting terrorism.

“If another nation that has considerable resources wishes to join together with the United States of America to try to defeat and eradicate radical Islamic terrorism, then we’re listening,” Conway said on “Fox and friends.”

When Conway was asked on the “CBS This Morning” program about who initiated the Trump-Putin conversation, the White House adviser said that she wouldn’t “divulge that.”

“We have to have leaders talking to each other. We have to forge better relationships around the globe,” she said.

Trump has complimented Putin on a number of occasions, drawing criticism from politicians and organizations around the world.

The U.S. leader compared Putin favorably to former President Obama, calling him “very much of a leader,” and “a man so highly respected within his own country and beyond.”

Many in Kyiv worry that a U.S. pullback from sanctions on Russia could erode international political support for Ukraine, giving Russia a freer hand to escalate violence in the Donbas as part of a broader move to bring Ukraine under its sphere of influence.

When Trump was asked about allegations that Putin arranged the deaths of his political opponents and journalists, Trump defended the Russian president.

“I haven’t seen any evidence that he killed anybody,” he said.