The summit of Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will be held in Helsinki on July 16, the Kremlin press service said on Thursday.
“Under the agreement, the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump will take place on July 16 in Helsinki,” the statement said.
The two leaders will discuss “the current state and prospects of further development of Russian-US relations and also vital issues of the international agenda,” it said.
Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov earlier told reporters that the venue of the summit is convenient for both sides. The meeting is likely to last several hours: there will be a protocol event, a tete-a-tete meeting and a joint news conference. Ushakov suggested that Putin and Trump could make a joint statement outlining “the two countries’ further steps both in terms of improving bilateral relations, in terms of joint steps in the international arena and in terms of maintaining global stability and security,” he said.
Putin and Trump held a telephone conversation on March 20. According to the Kremlin press service, after the phone call the top Russian and US diplomats were asked to explore the issue.
On Wednesday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived in Moscow and held several meetings and also met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin. After the visit Bolton said that as part of preparations for the summit a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other events would be held.
According to Trump’s adviser, Washington is not expecting a serious breakthrough as the top-level talks haven’t been held since the presidents’ meeting in Hamburg in July 2017 and many difficulties have accumulated. Meanwhile, he didn’t rule out that certain results may be reached.
Putin and Trump held their first talks on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Germany’s Hamburg in July 2017. They had another opportunity to hold negotiations during the APEC summit in Vietnam in November 2017 but no full-fledged meeting took place. However, Putin and Trump talked on the sidelines of the forum and adopted a joint statement on Syria.
Since Trump assumed presidency, the two leaders have held several phone conversations, including the latest one on March 20.
Source – TASS.