Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have agreed on a time and place to hold their first official summit, a senior Russian official announced on Wednesday.
The Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists that the summit will be held in a country other than Russia or the United States. The date and location of the meeting will be announced on Thursday, Ushakov said.
The announcement followed a one-on-one meeting between the US national security adviser, John Bolton, and Putin at the Kremlin on Wednesday, where the two sides discussed the summit, nuclear arms control and other bilateral issues, according to the Russian side.
Bolton is expected to hold a press conference in Moscow this evening.
It was the first official confirmation of the White House’s intention to hold direct talks with Putin, who last met Trump during a controversial G20 in July 2017.
Bolton, accompanied by the US ambassador to Moscow, Jon Huntsman, also met the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and an adviser, Yuri Ushakov, whose portfolio includes US policy.
“I have to say with regret that Russian-American relations are not in the best shape,” Putin told Bolton, “and I’ve already said this repeatedly in public and am saying this to you now: I think that this is largely a result of the acute internal political struggle within the US itself.”
He added: “Your arrival in Moscow has given us hope that we can make the first steps to reviving full relations between our governments.”
Bolton, a foreign policy hawk, took a cautious line in public remarks to the Russian president.
has said it is open to a summit between Putin and Trump, and it has been reported that White House and Kremlin officials have met in recent months to make preparations. Vienna and Helsinki have been suggested as potential venues for the meeting.
The two sides have been at odds over issues including Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 US election, the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, cybersecurity, Nato policy and nuclear weapons. Relations between the two countries are widely seen as being at their worst since the cold war.
Bolton has previously called for a tougher US stance against Iran, North Korea and Russia. But Trump has charted a course more favourable to Putin, defying a US foreign policy establishment that has widely condemned Russia for allegedly hacking US political parties and spreading disinformation during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Russia has said it is open to a summit between Putin and Trump, and it has been reported that White House and Kremlin officials have met in recent months to make preparations. Vienna and Helsinki have been suggested as potential venues for the meeting.
Russia and the US have closed consulates and expelled hundreds of diplomats in tit-for-tat actions during the diplomatic fallout.
Trump and Putin met twice at a G20 meeting Hamburg last year, and had a discussion over dinner with only a Russian translator also present. Trump said the leaders discussed adoption policy.
Expectations for any summit between Putin and Trump are modest, especially as meaningful sanctions relief for Russia would require the consent of the US Congress.
Source – The Guardian
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