Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are set to hold their long-delayed first official summit, a senior Russian official announced on Wednesday.
The announcement follows a meeting between President Putin and US National Security Adviser John Bolton at the Kremlin yesterday.
Speaking from Washington, Trump said the meeting could take place in Helsinki after next month’s NATO summit in Brussels.
Trump and Putin “think now is the time for them to get together”, Bolton said. “Direct communications between Trump and Putin is in the best interests of the United States.”
Mr Trump said he and his Russian counterpart would discuss the war in Syria and the situation in Ukraine.
Mr Bolton said he was looking forward to discussing “how to improve Russia-US relations and find areas where we can agree and make progress together”.
He added that when Moscow and Washington had differences in the past, Russian and US leaders met and that was “good for both countries, good for stability in the world”.
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo said in a Senate committee on Wednesday: “The president is looking forward to an opportunity to find those handful of places where we can have productive conversations that lead to improvements for each of our two countries.
“I think we have our eyes wide open that that space is pretty small,” Pompeo added. “They don’t share our values in the same way the European countries do. But I think the president is hopeful we can reduce the temperature and reduce the risk for America.”
> Shiuly Rina
Trump and Putin Set to Hold and Reveal about First Official Summit
