Loading ...http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-25/putin-unexpectedly-calls-obama-what-did-they-talk-about
This is what the Kremlin stated was the official purpose of Putin’s phone call:
Vladimir Putin had a telephone conversation with President of the United States of America Barack Obama.
In particular, the two leaders discussed the Ukrainian crisis and the fulfilment of the Minsk Agreements. The Presidents agreed that US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin will be in contact to discuss implementation of these agreements.
Significant attention was given during the discussion to a set of issues pertaining to fighting terrorism, particularly the spread of influence by the “Islamic State” group in the Middle East. Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama agreed to instruct Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry to hold a meeting to discuss this issue.
In addition, the presidents of Russia and the US had an extensive discussion of current issues in bilateral relations. They also engaged in a detailed exchange of opinions concerning the situation in Syria and touched on settling the issue of the Iranian nuclear programme.
So why really did Putin call Obama?
The underlying reason may well have to do with what we discussed three weeks ago in “The Noose Around Syria’s Assad Tightens” a post which we left off with two rhetorical questions: i) what is the maximum pain level for Russia, which has the greatest vested in interest in preserving the Assad regime in place, and when does Putin finally get involved, and ii) how.
Perhaps Putin gave an answer on i) or ii), or both, to Obama in the phone call. Curiously, speaking of US support for ISIS as a front to topple Assad, just a few hours before Putin’s phone call, the WSJ reported an even more outlandish conspiracy theory: