MOSCOW, May 8 (Itar-Tass) - Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev will visit the United States as soon as President Vladimir Putin’s reply to U.S. President Barack Obama’s letter is ready.
“The message is being prepared,” Patrushev told journalists on Wednesday, May 8. “When it is ready, then the visit will take place,” he added, replying to questions about when he might travel to the U.S.
Putin’s reply to U.S. President Barack Obama’s message should be ready before the upcoming G8 summit to be held on June 17-18, presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier this week.
“We hope that the reply will be ready before the leaders meet at the summit,” he said.
Earlier, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Putin and Obama had agreed to hold full-format talks on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Great Britain.
Peskov also noted that no reply would be given to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during his meetings with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Putin on Tuesday, May 7.
“The reply is still being prepared,” he said, adding that its content would depend in part on the outcome of the meeting with Kerry as well.
Obama’s message was brought to Moscow by his National Security Adviser Tom Donilon on April 15. It contains proposals on how to enhance bilateral dialogue and cooperation.
Ushakov said the message had met a positive reaction in the Kremlin. Obama’s message “is written in a rather constructive tone and contains several proposals on how to deepen bilateral dialogue and cooperation.”
“Some of the ideas stated in the message were announced before and some are new. Our country will study them carefully and reply accordingly,” Ushakov said, adding that “the message also covers military-political issues, including missile defence and nuclear arsenals.”
“There are also suggestions concerning trade and economic issues, and these are quite concrete suggestions following up on the idea that was put forth by Putin at his meeting with Obama in Los Cabos [on the sidelines of the G20 summit last June], when he stressed the need to create a safety net that will help us at hard times when the political situation generates problems,” Ushakov said.
He also said that Putin’s to Obama’s letter would be delivered to Washington by Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev personally.
During a telephone conversation with Obama on April 29, Putin said that he had studied the U.S. president’s letter and had already made some comments when meeting with Donilon.
“We are preparing a reply which will be taken to Washington by Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev,” Ushakov said.
As to when this will happen, Ushakov said, “In the very near future.”