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Kremlin baffled by media reports about Putin-Trump undisclosed meeting

Earlier, Reuters, citing a White House official, said that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a second meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit after formal two-hour talks

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. US media reports that Russian President held an ‘undisclosed’ meeting with US counterpart Donald Trump on the sidelines of G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg raise eyebrows and cause confusion, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a televised interview with Channel One on Wednesday.

Earlier, Reuters, citing a White House official, said that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a second meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit after formal two-hour talks.

The news agency gave no details of that second meeting. However, Ian Bremmer, president of the political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, said the conversation lasted for about an hour during a dinner for G20 leaders.

"The use of such definitions as a ‘secret’ or ‘undisclosed’ meeting raises eyebrows and causes confusion," Peskov said. "There was a bilateral meeting officially negotiated through diplomatic channels and later on the sidelines of the visit they repeatedly exchanged views and phrases. There were neither secret nor undisclosed meetings. It is absurd to claim this."

Putin’s press secretary added that the reports in US media manifest that the US political establishment has an unhealthy attitude towards Russia, characterized by Trump as "Russian fever."

Citing Putin, Peskov said that release of this news by the mass media could be branded as ‘schizophrenia.’

"To present this as a meeting that could have been withheld from anyone is a sign of that schizophrenia," Peskov said.

Earlier, one meeting of Putin and Trump had been reported to take place on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg. It lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes, instead of 15 minutes previously fixed. Putin and Trump focused on pressing issues in bilateral relations, on Syria, Ukraine and North Korea along with cyber security.