MOSCOW, June 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has never had to wait for any of his counterparts at international events because his protocol office works faultlessly, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday commenting on extracts from a book of reminiscences by the former presidential national security advisor John Bolton (2018-2019) entitled The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, where he claimed that US President Donald Trump was deliberately tardy for talks with Putin in Helsinki in 2018.
"Was Trump deliberately late for the meeting with the [Russian] president in Helsinki? Well, it’s difficult to say, I don’t remember all the details but you can take it from me that the president did not wait for anyone there. I don’t know how Trump could be deliberately tardy," Peskov told journalists.
"Our protocol office works faultlessly and Putin never waits for anyone," he stressed.