Russian, US leaders to meet on G8 sidelines to touch upon missile defense June 17

MOSCOW, June 15 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Barack Obama will meet on the sidelines of the G8 summit on June 17 to touch upon the theme of US missile defense.

“The missile defense issue is a very important and acute one, and it will surely be touched upon,” Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told the media on Friday. He speculated that the two leaders might exchange some ideas on that score.

Ushakov refrained from making any forecast as to how much time the discussion of the missile defense theme might take.

“If Syria requires 45 minutes, then only fifteen minutes will be left for everything else,” he explained.

Ushakov said that in the course of the meeting Putin and Obama would discuss bilateral relations with special emphasis made on the aspects identified in the messages they had exchanged earlier.

Putin and Obama are to adopt three joint statements, Ushakov said.

Also, together with France’ President Francois Hollande Putin and Obama will sign joint statements on the Nagorno-Karabakh settlement.

“The agenda of the discussion will include the missile defense, nuclear arms reduction and non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” Ushakov said. “Coordinated decisions are required on all these fundamental issues. Unilateral action in the sphere of strategic stability is impermissible,” Ushakov said, adding that the parties were determined to go ahead with the constructive dialogue.