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Trump seeks to understand Russia’s stance, lay out US plans at Helsinki summit

The Putin-Trump summit will be held in Helsinki on July 16
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump EPA-EFE/JORGE SILVA / POOL
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump
© EPA-EFE/JORGE SILVA / POOL

NEW YORK, July 1. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump, who is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin within weeks, wants to clarify Moscow’s position and lay bare Washington’s approaches, US National Security Adviser told Fox News on Sunday.

He said that the most important thing about this meeting was that it would ultimately take place, after some 18 months of the new administration.

There are areas where Moscow and Washington can reach joint progress, John Bolton told, commenting on his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. He said the entire agenda had been tackled at a meeting with Putin. Although Moscow and Washington have absolutely different position on a number of matters, they may reach progress on others, he noted.

"The main rationale to have a bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin: let them discuss these issues and see exactly where there might be room for progress, or where they might find there's no room at all," Bolton said.

According to Bolton, when he met with the Russian president, the latter had pledged that Russia never meddled with the US presidential elections. "I think the president [Trump] will want to have a conversation about this and say we don’t want to see meddling in the 2018 election," he added.

On Wednesday, US National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived in Moscow to prepare a possible meeting between the two countries’ president. Om Thursday, the Kremlin press service said the Putin-Trump summit would be held in Helsinki on July 16. According to Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, the two leaders would discuss a number of very serious problems, including the situation in Syria.

Putin and Trump held their first talks on the sidelines of the Group of Twenty summit in Germany’s Hamburg in July 2017. They had another opportunity to exchange views during the APEC summit in Vietnam in November 2017, but no full-fledged meeting took place. However, Putin and Trump talked on the sidelines of the forum and adopted a joint statement on Syria.

Since Trump assumed presidency, the two leaders have held several phone conversations, including the latest one on March 20.