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Trump says G20 summit ‘very good time’ for meeting with Putin
WASHINGTON, Nov 29, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump said Thursday a weekend G20 summit of world leaders would be a “very good time” for a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“I probably will be meeting with President Putin. We haven’t terminated that meeting. I was thinking about it, but we haven’t. I think it’s a very good time to have the meeting,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
The gathering of Group of 20 nations in Argentine capital Buenos Aires takes place under a cloud of Russia’s seizure of three Ukrainian ships, and Trump had threatened to cancel planned talks with Putin.
“I’m getting a full report on the plane as to what happens with respect to that as that will determine what we are going to be doing,” Trump said, adding that he considered talks with the Russian president “very important.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had earlier told journalists the meeting would start around noon on Saturday with “brief talks between the leaders” followed by broader Russia-US talks that could last around an hour.
“We need to think about how to start talking about the topics of bilateral relations, the topics of strategic security and disarmament and regional conflicts,” Peskov said.
“We don’t have to agree on all the issues and indeed that may be impossible but we need to talk. That’s in the interests not only of our two countries, it’s in the interests of the whole world.”
BSS/AFP/MMA/2219HRS