a day ago
'Trump Could Get Offended': Putin Rushes Out Of Event To Attend Phone Call
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump had been scheduled to speak on Thursday. The talks between the two leaders will be the sixth publicly known conversation after Trump returned to office. The talks are also happening in the backdrop of unsuccessful US efforts to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Putin, on Thursday, rushed to leave a plenary session of the Strong Ideas for a New Time forum held by the Agency for Strategic Initiatives to promote new projects, in a hurry. He apologised to the host and the crowd and announced that he is going to have a phone call with Trump and requested the audience, "Please, don't be angry. I understand that we could talk more, but it's so awkward to make [Trump] wait, he could get offended."
Putin rushes to talk to Trump, lest he gets offended for being made to wait
— RT (@RT_com) July 3, 2025
His comments come after the US halted all weapons shipments and military aid to Ukraine. The pause comes as Russia has ramped up its attacks all around Ukraine. Kyiv's foreign affairs minister, Andrii Sybiha, said Russia launched more than 5,000 combat drones and hundreds of missiles, including nearly 80 ballistic missiles, in June alone.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also scheduled to have a call with Trump.
The US President had announced the call in a Truth Social post.
However, it is worthwhile to note that Putin is known for making world leaders wait. In March, a call was scheduled with his US counterpart.
The scheduled call between him and Trump was set to begin between 4 pm and 6 pm Russian time (6.30 pm to 8.30 pm IST). Putin was attending a conference with Russian business leaders in Moscow at the time and reportedly showed no urgency in leaving the event, keeping Trump waiting for over an hour.
Putin is meant to be speaking to Trump around now, but he is talking to a room full of oligarchs instead. Asked if he's going to be late, Putin waves off the question and says not to listen to his spokesman
— max seddon (@maxseddon) March 18, 2025
During the event, Alexander Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union for Industrialists and Entrepreneurs pointed out that Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that it was past 4 pm Moscow time - the designated slot for Putin's call with Trump.
In video footage from the event, Shokhin is seen asking Putin if he would be late, referencing Peskov's statement about the scheduled call.
Instead of rushing to the Kremlin, Putin casually dismissed the concern with a joke, according to the report. He said, "Don't listen to him! That's his job," while shrugging, eliciting laughter from the audience.
Shokhin, a former deputy prime minister under Putin, responded, "Now, we need to see what Trump says about this."
Putin, still smiling, replied, "I didn't mention Trump. I was talking about Peskov."
Despite the phone call being a highly anticipated diplomatic exchange, Putin did not leave the Moscow International Music Hall immediately. Instead, he continued with his engagement, ultimately leaving the venue at around 5 pm Russian time (7.30 pm IST), a full hour after the scheduled start of his telephonic conversation with Trump.
