"No initiative from Washington should not be": the Kremlin commented on the possibility of meeting Putin and Trump

Russia did not receive specific information from the United States on the possible meeting of presidents during the G20 summit in Japan. This was stated by the press secretary of the head of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov. He admitted that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump will hold a meeting "on their feet."

“There are still no initiatives from Washington. But here, probably, it is necessary to very carefully just follow the nuances, because Trump says: I will meet with the Chinese, and with the Russians, and with other countries. Perhaps he is referring to such anteroom meetings, which is called, as diplomats say, “on their feet,” he said on the air of Russia 1.

At the same time, Peskov stressed that it would not be possible to discuss issues on all general topics in such a format.

Earlier, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov also reported that the American side had expressed its intention to meet, but had not formulated specific proposals.

Recall that the G20 summit in Osaka will begin on June 27th. In May, Trump announced that he intends to hold a meeting with Putin and Xi Jinping, the head of the PRC, during the G-20. AFP reports that on June 12, Trump confirmed his intention to meet with Putin.

The question of organizing the meeting during the G20 summit was raised during the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Russia in May. Both sides expressed interest in the negotiations. However, as Peskov noted in an exclusive interview with RT, more specific actions are needed to organize the meeting.

“Yes, he (Pompeo. - RT ) was in Sochi and even spoke of the potential readiness to hold such a meeting, but this is not enough. Such negotiations must be somehow initiated at the official level. Therefore, a meeting is possible, but nothing has yet been decided, ”he said.

"The meeting was canceled by the USA"

The initiative on the summit should come from the American side, I am convinced Grigory Yarygin, an associate professor at the Department of American Studies at St. Petersburg State University. In a conversation with RT, he recalled that it was due to Washington’s fault that the negotiations between Putin and Trump at the G20 summit in Argentina in December 2018 had broken down less than a day before they began.

“This meeting was canceled by the United States. Then Russia declared that it could not happen again. The United States should feel its duty to hold such a meeting if it is initiated by them, ”he said.

Thus, after the cancellation of the meeting at the G20 summit in Argentina, Ushakov said that Russia would not “urge” the United States to organize the talks of the presidents.

“The Russian side is ready to talk, moreover, it considers that these contacts at the highest level are extremely important. At the same time, to impose on the American side, so to speak, to impose, we, in general, will not. Now everything depends on the Americans, ”he said.

According to Yarygin, Trump deliberately postpones this issue to the last moment because of the actual election campaign in the United States.

“Trump is already in the pre-election process, he is already thinking about how he will run for president, what steps he can take and what steps he cannot take. For Trump, any meeting with Putin will be read and understood within the framework of internal political processes, ”the expert emphasized.

It is worth noting that after the meeting between Putin and Trump in Helsinki in July 2018, in the USA many representatives of both the American establishment and the media criticized the head of the White House.

“He needs a PR effect”

The full-format meeting with Putin may strike Trump’s rating, says Yury Rogulev, director of the Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the USA at Moscow State University.

“I think that he will make hints, proposals, will speak positively, will meet on his feet, but he needs, rather, a positive short-term PR effect than any real achievements that will not help him in his election campaign” , - he told RT.

At the same time, Rogulev noted that Russian-American relations are not in the best condition.

“The current fall, it can be called the worst, based on the fact that the old agreements are scattered, and no new ones come to replace them. In this sense, the situation is alarming, but this does not mean that this trend cannot be reversed, ”he added.

On the continuing deterioration of relations between Moscow and Washington, Vladimir Putin said earlier.

“They are degrading, getting worse and worse. In recent years, in my opinion, the current administration has already taken, in my opinion, several dozen decisions related to sanctions, ”said the President of Russia.

At the same time, during Putin’s telephone conversations with Trump in early May, the leaders confirmed their intention to work on improving bilateral relations.