Donald Trump’s phone call with Vladimir Putin has been hailed by politicians and commentators in Moscow as a success, and a step towards normalising relations between the two superpowers.

The leaders spoke for 90 minutes on Wednesday in a call the Kremlin described as “very important”, discussing a path to peace in the war in Ukraine.

Dmitriy Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said: “The current (US) administration, as we understand it, holds the view that everything should be done to stop the war and achieve peace.”

Leonid Slutsky, the head of the international committee at the Russian State Duma, said the phone call “has broken through the anti-Russian blockade of the West and launched the process of defrosting Russian-American contacts”.

It was noted that the two leaders had invited each other to visit their countries. However, they are more likely to meet in a third country, such as Saudi Arabia.