"Trump is waiting for an opportunity to meet": what the US president intends to discuss in negotiations with Putin

Washington expects US President Donald Trump to discuss regional security and arms control with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G20 Osaka summit. This was during a telephone briefing said the representative of the US administration. However, he noted that the meeting will not be full.

“The President (USA. - RT ) is awaiting a meeting with President Putin at the G20,” TASS quotes a senior American official. - It is expected that this will be a conversation that will focus primarily on regional security issues, including Iran, Ukraine, Syria, the Middle East, they will also touch on arms control and the improvement of bilateral relations. There is no official agenda, but these are topics that are expected to be discussed. ”

An official from the US administration also admitted that at the meeting the heads of state could discuss the situation in Venezuela. According to the representative of the White House, Trump during the conversation with Putin will note the inadmissibility of "interference in the elections."

As stated on Tuesday, National Security Advisor to Trump, the US president is waiting for a meeting with the Russian leader.

“President Trump is waiting for an opportunity to meet with President Putin in Osaka, Japan, in the coming days,” he said.

Recall that the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka will be held from 28 to 29 June.

Trump had previously announced his intention to meet with Putin, but the Kremlin noted that there had been no official appeals from the American administration. Nevertheless, the Russian Foreign Ministry believes that negotiations are likely to take place.

“I presume that such a meeting is likely to take place,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.

At the same time, the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, responding to a question from journalists whether the meeting between the leaders will take place, called for waiting for the start of the G20 summit. In this case, the schedule of meetings with Putin will be rich, said Sands.

“We are continuing to work on a schedule of contacts of the president, while there is nothing more to add,” he said on June 24. “The trip will be extremely rich, Friday and Saturday will be extremely rich in multilateral and bilateral meetings.”

All Putin's meetings will be devoted to resolving international crises, emphasized Peskov. The presidential press secretary also admitted that in the event of negotiations with Trump, the issue of cyber attacks would be raised.

“We - I mean both financial organizations, and the media, and departments, and objects of critical infrastructure - over the past few years have been under attack from various Western countries, including the United States. This is a big problem, and that is why Putin has repeatedly offered Washington cooperation in the field of cyber security, ”said Peskov.

According to the press secretary of the Russian leader, the United States refuses to cooperate in this area.

“The initiative must come from the American side”

During the visit of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Russia in May, the possible meeting between Putin and Trump on the G20 fields in Japan was discussed. Then both sides confirmed interest in these negotiations. However, to organize such a meeting, concrete initiatives at the highest level are needed, emphasized Peskov in an exclusive interview with RT.

“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 been decided yet, ”stressed Peskov.

The last meeting between Putin and Trump was held on November 11 last year in Paris. Then in the French capital, events were held in honor of the centenary of the end of the First World War and the leaders were able to communicate during a working breakfast. However, as noted Peskov, they "literally greeted" each other.

Full-fledged negotiations were planned at the previous G20 summit in Argentina, which was held in November 30 - December 1, 2018. However, in less than a day Trump canceled the meeting, the leaders only briefly spoke. The Kremlin stressed that in connection with this situation, further initiatives on new negotiations should come from Washington.

“In Argentina, the meeting was canceled, which was already agreed, and was canceled in less than 24 hours. In this regard, of course, the initiative for a new meeting should come from the American side, ”said Peskov in May.

The only full-format meeting between Putin and Trump was the Helsinki summit on July 16. Despite the fact that both leaders noted the productive nature of the negotiations, many representatives of the American establishment and the media criticized Trump.

Vladimir Putin has repeatedly noted that Russia is ready for negotiations with the United States. Thus, during an interview with the NTV television channel, which was broadcast on June 23, the Russian president stressed that Washington should “mature” for dialogue.

“Let them decide there whether they need to develop relations with Russia or not. Therefore, we need a dialogue - please, we are ready. No need - we will wait until they mature, ”he said.