Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday he speaks “regularly” with President Donald Trump.
So, how often do they really speak?
Trump and Putin have spoken by phone eight times, according to readouts distributed by the White House. They have met in person twice during Trump’s presidency – once at a formal bilateral meeting in Germany and once on the sidelines of a leaders’ summit in Vietnam.
An administration official told CNN’s Jeremy Diamond that the White House puts out readouts for every call Trump has with Putin, knowing that it “would’ve been a disaster if news leaked of a secret call.”
The pace of Trump-Putin calls is roughly equivalent to the number of phone calls President Barack Obama held with Putin in his final two years in office. They spoke nine times in 2015 and 2016.
Trump speaks more often with key European allies in the UK, Germany and France than with Putin. Those countries are trade and treaty allies.
Here’s a full accounting of all the calls:
Trump-Putin calls (8)
- March 20, 2018
- February 12, 2018
- December 17, 2017
- December 14, 2017
- November 21, 2017
- May 2, 2017
- April 3, 2017
- January 28, 2017
Trump-Merkel calls (14)
- March 27, 2018
- March 2, 2018
- September 28, 2017
- September 22, 2017
- September 4, 2017
- July 6, 2017
- July 3, 2017
- June 1, 2017
- April 24, 2017
- April 10, 2017
- April 5, 2017
- March 28, 2017
- March 13, 2017
- January 28, 2017
Trump-Macron calls (27)
- June 1, 2018
- May 13, 2018
- May 8, 2018
- April 30, 2018
- April 26, 2018
- April 14, 2018
- April 9, 2018
- April 8, 2018
- April 4, 2018
- March 27, 2018
- March 21, 2018
- March 10, 2018
- March 2, 2018
- January 11, 2018
- January 7, 2018
- December 4, 2017
- November 27, 2017
- November 18, 2017
- October 6, 2017
- September 19, 2017
- September 8, 2017
- August 12, 2017
- August 4, 2017
- June 27, 2017
- June 1, 2017
- May 8, 2017
- January 28, 2017 (Hollade)
Trump-May calls (26)
- June 4, 2018
- May 11, 2018
- May 5, 2018
- April 14, 2018
- April 12, 2018
- April 10, 2018
- March 28, 2018
- March 13, 2018
- March 5, 2018
- February 6, 2018
- January 25, 2018
- December 19, 2017
- November 1, 2017
- October 10, 2017
- October 2, 2017
- September 21, 2017
- September 15, 2017
- September 6, 2017
- July 8, 2017
- June 9, 2017
- June 3, 2017
- June 1, 2017
- May 23, 2017
- April 18, 2017
- April 10, 2017
- March 22, 2017
Obama-Putin calls (2016 and 2015) – (9)
- July 6, 2016
- April 18, 2016
- March 14, 2016
- February 22, 2016
- February 14, 2016
- January 13, 2016
- July 15, 2015
- June 25, 2015
- February 10, 2015