Leaders from both nations have conceded that U.S.-Russia relations have in fact sunk to low levels not seen since the Cold War. | Getty Trump, Putin to hold phone call today

President Donald Trump will speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone Tuesday, a conversation that comes as the relationship between Washington and Moscow is strained over Syria’s long-running civil war.

Trump is scheduled to speak to Putin at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Oval Office, according to the daily guidance email sent late Monday evening by the White House. The two men spoke most recently a month ago following a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg, Russia.


Leaders from both nations have conceded that U.S.-Russia relations, which Trump had suggested that he might be able to revive, have in fact sunk to low levels not seen since the Cold War. The two nations are at odds over the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, a close ally of Russia whose military the U.S. launched a missile strike against in retaliation for its use of chemical weapons against its own people.

Last month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson made his first visit to Moscow, where he met with both Putin and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov. Tillerson held fast to the U.S. position on Syria despite opposition from his Russian hosts, but at a joint press conference with the secretary of state and his Russian counterpart, the two men announced their nations’ mutual interest in improving ties.