MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to U.S. President Donald Trump for 50 minutes on Saturday, focusing on hostilities between Israel and Iran and calling for efforts to bring them to an end.

By Ben Aris in Berlin With its long-standing good relations with both Tel Aviv and Tehran, the outbreak of war in the Middle East has put Moscow in a delicate position, but it has also been presented it with the opportunity to act as peacemaker and weaken the West’s support for Ukraine in the process.