Monday December 23, 2024

Another separate Trump-Putin meeting possible: Bolton

Published : 23 Oct 2018, 00:35

  DF-Xinhua Report
U.S. President Donald Trump (2nd L) and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin (2nd R) meet in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. Photo Xinhua/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland/Juhani Kandell.

A new summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, like the one in Helsinki in July, is not ruled out, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Monday.

He told Russian newspaper Kommersant that he discussed the possibility of holding a separate meeting between Russian and U.S. presidents during talks with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev in Moscow earlier in the day.

Putin is ready to meet Trump but no preparations are underway, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Bolton's remarks.

In addition to Patrushev, Bolton also met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday, ahead of his talks with Putin on Tuesday.

According to press releases of the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Russian Security Council, Lavrov and Patrushev in separate meetings with Bolton discussed the situation around Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, the Korean Peninsula and the Iran nuclear deal.