bringing valuable insights into the reporting which we all can benefit from thank you. russia now where the government is showcasing the country s military involvement in the syrian conflict russian troops have been there since twenty fifteen backing the regime of president bashar al assad they ve also been fighting so-called islamic state well now a tree is making a nationwide tour of russia displaying war trophies if you will weapons and technology the army says that it captured in syria. from our moscow bureau soon as this report. mixed up the city of cazan arriving at ten in the morning the train is greeted with plenty of pomp the twenty cars carrying armored tanks and other military tech seized by the russian army in its campaign to defeat the so-called islamic state in syria. even i yes
a fact of life in other parts of the world russian should understand the role of the country in fighting terrorism around the world. selfies are allowed and visitors are encouraged to ask about the spoils of war on board the so-called syria train or according to the defense ministry all the soldiers on hand took part in the fighting. for the past three years moscow has been helping the syrian army against i-s. and keep president bashar al assad in power. but. our boys are helping the poor syrians. so much so. with success. what s russia doing in syria. well it s some kind of assistance for the country so that with assistance of it it can have what s it called again peace that s it. has our youth should see the tools of war so they know that war is
syrian army against i.a.s. and keep president bashar al assad in power. but. our boys are helping the poor syrians. so much so. with success. what s russia doing in syria. so that you. will get some kind of assistance for the country so that with assistance of that it can have what s it called again peace that s it. has our youth should see the tools of war so they know that war is terrible. absent from view or the russians who didn t make it back from syria. the defense ministry says one hundred sixteen soldiers were killed in combat but it s not just ordinary troops who are deployed there. human rights activists say private armies from russia are also fighting mercenaries who don t appear in any official figures. no
welcome back. you re watching velshi & ruhle. we ve got breaking news from the white house. president trump just got off the phone with russian president vladimir putin. the phone call follows putin s surprise meeting with bashar al assad at the russian resort of sochi. for assad, it was a rare trip outside syria where this bloody civil war is now in its seventh year. seventh year. white house correspondent jeff bennett joins us live now. jeff, what can you tell us about the trump/putin phone call? reporter: we understand that call has just wrapped up as you say. we expect to get the details of it soon. and the call comes as moscow tries to jump start diplomatic efforts to resolve the syrian war. the u.s. and russia issued a joint statement on syria saying the two countries agreed to find a, quote, political solution to the conflict saying they agreed that there is no military solution to the syrian civil war. and vladimir putin has take an
major role in that diplomatic effort after what has been a year s long russian military campaign that helped assad fight off many of his opponents including some backed by the u.s. this diplomatic approach is expected to leave bashar al assad in power. trump and putin s last known conversation before today occurred earlier this month on the sidelines of an economic summit in vietnam during the president s 12-day trip to asia. and their phone call today follows that rare meeting as you said between putin and bashar al assad in schouochi. and let me just talk to you about some senior white house officials including the communications director hope hicks are preparing to be interviewed by robert mueller in his russia investigation. what do we know about that? reporter: well, we know that the special counsel team has already spoken to miller, priebus, with spicer the former