Russian President Vladimir Putin and United States President Donald Trump during their recent phone call discussed the military conflict between India and Pakistan, which was halted due to the “personal involvement” of the Republican leader, a senior Moscow official said on Thursday.

Yuri Ushakov, a key aide to Putin, made the statement during a press briefing after the conversation between the two leaders on Wednesday, which lasted about 70 minutes.

This is the first time that Russia has spoken about Trump’s role in halting the military conflict between the two countries. The US president has repeatedly claimed that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan – an assertion that India has pushed back against.

Ushakov stated that the primary focus of the call between Putin and Trump was Russia’s war with Ukraine. However, they also discussed other geopolitical developments, added the official.

“Additionally, the Middle East was discussed, as well as the armed conflict between India and Pakistan, which has been halted with the personal involvement of President Trump,” said Ushakov.

The tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and seven defence personnel were killed.

On May 10, India and Pakistan reached an “understanding” to halt firing following a four-day conflict.

New Delhi’s announcement on the decision to stop military action came minutes after Trump claimed on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to the ceasefire.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had also claimed at the time that New Delhi and Islamabad had agreed to “start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site”.

However, India has said that the decision to stop firing was taken bilaterally and that there was no intervention by the US. New Delhi has also maintained that “the issue of trade did not come up” in any discussion between Indian and US leaders.

On Thursday, the Congress asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to issue a clarification about Trump’s role in halting the conflict.

“President Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov has just revealed that the four-day India-Pakistan conflict came up in the 75-minute telephonic conversation of President Putin and President Trump on June 4,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X. “Mr Ushakov has let it be known that it was the personal involvement of President Trump that halted the armed hostilities between India and Pakistan.”

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