All news

Kremlin comments on Russian Security Council chief and Bolton talks

The Kremlin expects that Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and US National Security Adviser John Bolton will discuss all issues on the bilateral agenda

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. The Kremlin expects that Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev and US National Security Adviser John Bolton will discuss all issues on the bilateral agenda, although that the US side is not quite willing to conduct a dialogue, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Kremlin expects that this meeting in Geneva will offer a possibility "to once again discuss all issues that are well-known" in the Russian-US agenda and "try to find the issues where our colleagues will show at least some readiness to conduct a dialogue," Peskov said.

Moscow sees no problem in John Bolton’s heading to Kiev after talks with the Russian Security Council secretary, he also said.

"No, of course not. This is absolutely not the issue on our agenda. We have so many thorny issues on the agenda of these talks with Patrushev, that such visits are not a priority issue for us," Peskov said when asked by a journalist whether the Kremlin had some hard feelings about that.

The Patrushev-Bolton talks started in Geneva at about noon, and are expected to continue for three to four hours. The focal points are strategic security, the situation in Syria and in Ukraine, prospects for surmounting a crisis in bilateral relations. Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier that the sides were also expected to discuss Iran’s presence in Syria. Ryabkov also participates in the talks. They are held behind closed doors.