Kremlin believes upcoming Putin-Trump meeting is equally important for Russia, US

MOSCOW, July 3. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump will hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, which will be vital for bilateral relations and global affairs, Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said.

"It has been agreed that the presidents will meet though their schedules are rather tight," the Russian presidential aide said adding that Putin had been scheduled to hold around 11 bilateral meetings during the summit. "However, we will keep in touch with our US counterparts to find an interval for this most important meeting," Ushakov went on to say. "We will try to agree on the meeting, and I am sure that the two presidents will meet in Hamburg," the Kremlin aide noted.

According to Ushakov, this meeting is "crucial and everybody has been waiting for it."
The Russian presidential aide pointed out that Putin and Trump had held several telephone conversations but it was not enough because relations between Moscow and Washington were stuck on " level zero." "Besides, this meeting will be particularly important for ensuring global stability," Ushakov added.

"It is necessary to break the current impasse in bilateral relations. This is equally important for us and for the Americans," the Kremlin official said, commenting on the agenda of the upcoming meeting, which is expected to focus on bilateral ties, among other things. 

He also said that Moscow had informed Washington about the timeline of Putin’s meetings that had already been scheduled to be held during the G20 summit. "The [US] administration sent us its message later, so now we are trying to find time for the meeting [with Trump], because it is a meeting that should be held by all means," the Kremlin aide stressed.

Agenda of the meeting

The Kremlin expects bilateral relations, the situation in Syria and Ukraine, the war on terror and other issues to top the agenda of a meeting between Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Hamburg, Ushakov said.

The Kremlin aide drew attention to media reports that the US side intended to raise the issues of Syria and Ukraine at the Putin-Trump meeting.

"It seems to me that it is quite logical to discuss these two topics," Ushakov said.

According to him, the Kremlin also believes it necessary, in the first place, to discuss the problem of international terrorism because cooperation between Russia and the United States is necessary in this sphere as well.

"There are many other themes, which we are ready to discuss," Ushakov said, specifying that the talk was about "all regional issues, arms control and bilateral relations.

There are a lot of problematic spheres in Russia-US relations, the presidential aide said. Responding to a question about whether there were possibilities for agreement between Moscow and Washington on solving these issues, Ushakov stressed that "specific accords have not yet been reached and that is why the forthcoming meeting, the [presidents’] first personal contact is so important."

"As it seems to me, the very atmosphere of a future meeting can help solve many issues, including cooperation on the international scene and the issues that have remained at the bilateral level," the Kremlin aide said.

In Ushakov’s opinion, Russia and the United States "have considerable potential for coordinating efforts in the sphere of the struggle against international terrorism, drug trafficking, organized crime and the spread of mass destruction weapons."

"Our countries can do much together to settle regional crises - the Ukrainian, Palestinian-Israeli, Yemeni, Libyan, Afghan and others," the Russian presidential aide said.

Also, "the talk with Trump may touch upon the issues of arms control and strategic stability for whose maintenance Russia and the United States bear special responsibility as the largest nuclear powers, considering that the intensity of the dialogue in this sphere was ‘sharply reduced’ by the administration of former US leader Barack Obama in 2014 when it curtailed military contacts."

As the Russian presidential aide noted, cultural and humanitarian exchanges between Russia and the United States remain much-needed issues.

‘We have a lot of themes, which should be discussed at the highest level and we are ready for such a discussion on the entire bilateral and multilateral agenda," the Kremlin aide said.