Kremlin Says Putin, Trump to Hold Substantive Meeting at G20 in Argentina

Kremlin Says Putin, Trump to Hold Substantive Meeting at G20 in Argentina
U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin shake hands during a joint news conference after their meeting in Helsinki, Finland, on July 16, 2018. (Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/Reuters)
Reuters
11/2/2018
Updated:
11/2/2018

MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S President Donald Trump will meet for a long session on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina in a month’s time, a Kremlin aide said on Friday.

A separate meeting between the leaders on Nov. 11 during events in Paris to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One would be short, said the aide, Yuri Ushakov.

The two leaders have not met face-to-face since a bilateral summit in July in Helsinki.

Asked how long Moscow expected the meeting with Trump to last in Paris, Ushakov told reporters the meeting would be short but that a later meeting on the sidelines of the G20, taking place over Nov 30 and Dec 1, would be “lengthy and substantive.”

The White House had no immediate comment.

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said this week following a trip to Moscow that the White House had formally invited Putin to Washington next year.

Speaking in ex-Soviet Georgia on Oct. 26, Bolton said that the Paris meeting would be brief and more of “a base-touching exercise.”

By Tom Balmforth