Donald Trump discusses co-operation in Syria with Vladimir Putin in first conversation since his inauguration as President

DONALD Trump discussed co-operation in Syria in his first conversation with Vladimir Putin since taking office.

The President of the United States and his Russian counterpart spoke on the phone this afternoon as Trump called a number of world leaders.

The two men spoke in favour of their two countries cooperating in Syria to defeat Islamic State in a phone call on Saturday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

They also stressed the importance of restoring economic ties between the two countries and of stabilising relations, the Kremlin said.

There was no mention in the Kremlin statement that the issue of easing Western sanctions on Moscow imposed over the Ukraine conflict had been mentioned in the call

The Donald was surrounded by his aides including Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Vice President Mike Pence, Press Secretary Sean Spicer and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn as he spoke to Putin.

Trump and the Russian leader spoke for 50 minutes in what was a hotly anticipated exchange between the two men who have been full of public praise for one another .

Top Kremlin officials welcomed the phone call but some Washington based observers felt uneasy about the high level chat.

Press Secretary Sean Spicer tweeted at 12.07pm Washington time (5.07pm UK time): "After speaking with Chancellor Merkel for 45 minutes @POTUS is now onto his 3rd of 5 head of government calls, speaking w Russian Pres Putin."

Tump has said he's open to cooperating with Russia if it helps further American interests abroad.

Before the call, Trump was noncommittal about whether he was considering lifting economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by the Obama administration.

He also spoke with the leaders of Germany, Japan, France and Australia.

Ahead of the chat Russia's security chief said he had high hopes for the call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump.

Nikolai Patrushev secretary of Russia's Security Council was quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency as saying, "Everything will be positive."

Earlier this week it was reported Trump maybe be on a secret mission to retrieve a Superbowl ring Putin "borrowed" from a billionaire friend of his over a decade ago, when the two finally meet in person.

Trump's close pal and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is said to be thinking of calling on the new President to help him get back the £16,000 ring Putin infamously 'borrowed' from him 12 years ago.

As many American Football fans know, New England Patriots owner Kraft infamously “lost” his ring on a trip to Russia when he let Putin “borrow” it.

After it was revealed Trump is finally lined up to meet Putin, reports in the US claimed the new President might try and reunite Kraft with his treasured ring.

In 2005, Kraft was on a business trip to Russia when he showed his ring to Putin.

The Premier apparently tried it on and then took it without giving it back.

It was reported that when the incident originally happened, the Bush administration had asked Kraft, for the sake of US-Russia relations, to say publicly that he gave the ring to Putin as a gift.

After Kraft told his version of events, Putin denied stealing the ring or having any memory of meeting Kraft, but he said he would have a replacement made for him.

Earlier we reported how  Putin said he was ready to meet Trump but preparations for the possible meeting may take months, not weeks, says the Kremlin.