Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump to hold summit as both sides seek better ties
The date and time of the meeting will be announced Thursday, and it comes after Putin hosted US National Security Adviser John Bolton
US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet in a third country at a date to be announced, the Kremlin said Wednesday.
“I can say that we have reached an agreement to hold a summit, we have even agreed on the time and the place of the meeting, and we will announce this obviously with our American colleagues tomorrow,” said Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov, adding that the meeting would be in a “third country”.
Russia announced the deal after Putin hosted US National Security Adviser John Bolton. The summit “is of huge significance,” Ushakov told reporters after the meeting. “It will be the main international event of the summer.”
The unusually warm discussions in the Kremlin Wednesday came amid the worst tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since the cold war and relentless pressure on Trump over the investigation into alleged Russian involvement in his 2016 presidential victory. Still, Trump has pushed for improving the relationship – inviting Putin to the White House in a March phone call. The mere fact of the summit is a boost for Kremlin efforts to ease its international isolation, though officials had played down hopes of any breakthrough.
“Your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can make at least the first steps toward restoring full-scale relations between our countries,” Putin told Bolton at the opening of their meeting.