By Christi Parsons and Tracy Wilkinson

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone Saturday, one of several calls scheduled with world leaders on a tense weekend of questions about likely changes in U.S. relationships across the Atlantic.

The president also planned to speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande Saturday.

German and French officials are deeply concerned about Trump’s public statements about Putin. In the campaign and since his election and inauguration, Trump has alarmed European leaders and U.S. lawmakers from both parties with his unusually friendly references to the Russian leader, who is considered to be an authoritarian by much of the world.

American intelligence agencies have concluded that Russia hacked U.S. political organizations last year in an effort to interfere with the presidential election and help Trump.

Trump said Friday that having Russia as an ally “would be an asset.” He says he wants to form an alliance with Russia to fight Islamic State militants in Syria. But Russia’s track record has been not to target Islamic State in Syria, but to go after rebel groups fighting to topple Russia’s ally, Syrian President Bashar Assad, who is opposed by the U.S.

Trump has had business dealings in Russia, according to members of his family, and has spoken glowingly of his visit there for a beauty pageant he organized.

Trump’s pick for secretary of state has further cemented the concerns. Rex Tillerson, the former chief executive officer of Exxon Mobil, has acknowledged a close relationship with Putin, honed through years of multibillion-dollar deals for oil exploration and drilling in Russia.

Both Trump and Tillerson have been less than enthusiastic about economic sanctions imposed on Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Trump even suggested the U.S. could lift the sanctions if Russia agreed to compromise on nuclear arms, an unrelated matter.

Before Saturday’s call, Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway said that sanctions might be discussed. Russian officials, however, sought to downplay expectations.

“I do think they are going into this with a general negotiating tactic: Offer Russia a chance to back off and not be antagonistic,” said James Jay Carafano, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, who briefed Trump on foreign affairs during the transition. “That is different from placating [Putin] and giving him whatever he wants.”