US President assistant for National Security Affairs, John Bolton meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin 27 June 2018 in Moscow. Photo: The Kremlin
The White house has announced the meeting between American President Donald J Trump and Valdimir Putin of Russia, will be held July 16, 2018 in Helsinki, Finland.
The meeting between the two heads of state was also discussed by the Russian and American representatives Wednesday 27 June 2018 in Russia, when US President assistant for National Security Affairs; John Bolton met with amongst others, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov and his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In Helsinki, Trump and Putin are expected to expand further on discussions started by Bolton and Russian represantatives around developing Russian-US relations, disarmament, the Syria and Ukraine crises and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
During the discussions in Moscow, Putin acknowledged the strained relations between the two countries.
I regret to have to point out that Russian-US relations are not at their best…I believe that this is largely due to sharp domestic political strife in the United States, but your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can make at least the first steps towards restoring fully fledged relations between our states
President Trump has maintained that Moscow has mettled with US electoral system to effect Russia’s desired electoral outcomes; something that Moscow has vehemently denied.
Bolton echoed Putin and stressed the need for RUSSIA-US relations.
I very much look forward to discussing with you, as I have had the opportunity to do with your colleagues, how to improve Russian-US relations, find areas where we can agree and make progress together. Even in earlier days, when our countries had differences and our leaders and their advisors met and think that was good for both countries, good for stability in the world.
The meeting between Trump and Putin comes a month after the US President met with North Korean leader Kim Jon Un, 12 June 2018 during the historic summit in Singapore.