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Kremlin aide comments on Putin-Trump meeting in Vietnam

The Russian and US presidents may discuss the situation in Syria and bilateral relations at a meeting in Vietnam

MOSCOW, November 8. /TASS/. Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will be able to discuss the situation in Syria and on the Korean Peninsula and bilateral relations at a meeting in Vietnam on the sidelines of the APEC summit.

"[The two leaders] have a lot to discuss [at this meeting], including major international issues ranging from Syria to North Korea and so on," Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters. "There are many bilateral problems, bilateral relations have reached a low point."

According to Ushakov, Moscow and Washington have not reached an agreement on the timeframe for the two president’s meeting yet. "We are ready for a separate substantive bilateral meeting whose possibility has been discussed on numerous occasions," Ushakov said. "However, the timeframe for such a meeting has not been agreed on yet."

He noted that the two leaders will take part in the summit, and "it is logical that they can meet and discuss certain issues."

Vladimir Putin will hold separate bilateral meetings with the leaders of China, Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting on November 10. "There are plans to hold several bilateral meetings [on the sidelines of the APEC leaders’ summit on November 10 between Russian President Vladimir Putin and] Vietnam’s President [Tran Dai Quang,] China’s President Xi Jinping, [Japan’s] Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe and the Philippines’ President [Rodrigo] Duterte," he said. 

He said that Putin regularly meets with the Chinese leader, adding that this time the meeting "will be all the more interesting because Xi Jinping will meet with [US President Donald] Trump today or tomorrow, and the assessments of these negotiations will be very useful to us, of course."

The Kremlin representative reported that Putin and Abe will share opinions on the current issues of Russian-Japanese cooperation and international issues, including cooperation between the two countries in the APEC and the situation on the Korean Peninsula, during their meeting.

As for the meeting between the Russian and Vietnamese presidents, Ushakov noted, in particular, that a joint statement on cooperation and provision of international information security will be taken after it.

The Kremlin official noted that Putin and Duterte are expected to discuss bolstering cooperation in the trade and economic sphere. The leaders will also touch upon current issues on the regional agenda, particularly within the framework of the Philippines’ chairmanship in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).