Obama And Putin Just Spoke For The First Time In Months

REUTERS/Jason Reed

U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke Friday morning for the first time since April, the White House said.

"President Obama and President Putin did speak with each other on the margins of the leaders lunch," Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters, according to a pool report. "It was an informal conversation - not a formal bilateral meeting."

Rhodes said the conversation lasted about 10 to 15 minutes.

The two leaders had stopped regular communications in the wake of the Ukrainian crisis. The last time they spoke was a tense phone conversation as tensions were escalating in the eastern region.