U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will meet in a third country at a date to be announced, the Kremlin said on June 27.
“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”.
‘U.S.-Russia ties not on top form’
Earlier in the day, Mr. Putin expressed hope that the visit to Moscow by Mr. Trump’s National Security Adviser will help improve bilateral ties amid tensions between Moscow and the West.
Hardliner John Bolton is in Moscow to lay the groundwork for a summit between the Kremlin chief and Mr. Trump that may take place next month in Europe. “Your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can at least take the first step to reviving full-blown ties between our states,” Mr. Putin told Mr. Bolton at the start of the Kremlin meeting after the two smiled and shook hand for the cameras.
“We never sought confrontation,” Mr. Putin said in televised remarks, adding he regretted that the Russia-U.S. ties were not “on top form”.
Mr. Bolton said it was important to keep talking and complimented Mr. Putin on his handling of the football World Cup, currently taking place in Russia.
“Even in earlier days when our countries had differences our leaders and their advisers met and I think that was good for both countries, good for stability in the world and President Trump feels very strongly on that subject,” he said.
Mr. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier in the day the meeting would be used to discuss “the sad state” of bilateral relations as well as top international issues.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr. Bolton met behind closed doors with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the first deputy head of Russia’s security council, Yury Averyanov.
