WASHINGTON, March 19. /TASS/. The dialogue between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump will signal a new chapter in cooperation between the two largest nuclear powers, said Helga Zepp-LaRouche, founder and chairwoman of the Schiller Institute.
She said the telephone conversation is important for at least two reasons.
"It opens a pathway to end the war in Ukraine, provided interferences by third forces can be prevented," Zepp-Larouche told TASS in an interview.
"But even more importantly, since President Putin emphasized the need to address the root causes for the war, and President Trump already had identified the expansion of NATO as the trigger for the war, there is the real chance that the two largest nuclear powers in the world can begin a completely new chapter of cooperation in the world."
She drew attention to "an important contrast" between the results of the conversation between Putin and Trump and the vote in the Bundestag for the amendments allowing Berlin to receive a "potentially unlimited war credit." According to Zepp-Larouche, the vote "was orchestrated in a manner which makes the word ‘democracy’ a farce." The amendments stipulate that spending on defense, civil protection, financing intelligence services and cybersecurity over 1% of GDP will not be subject to debt restrictions.
On March 18, Putin and Trump discussed the situation in Ukraine, conditions for preventing escalation, and some international topics by phone. According to the Kremlin, Putin agreed with the US leader's proposal on mutual refusal of the parties to the conflict in Ukraine from attacks on energy infrastructure facilities for 30 days. According to the White House, the parties also agreed to begin technical negotiations on introduction of a "cease-fire on the Black Sea, a complete cease-fire and permanent peace." A key condition for resolving the conflict should be "the complete cessation of foreign military assistance and the provision of intelligence information to Kiev," the Kremlin stressed.