Russian President Vladimir Putin said on July 27 that he has invited U.S. President Donald Trump to Moscow and that both he and Trump were ready for further summits.
But Putin said conditions need to be right for a meeting to take place.
Speaking to reporters at a summit of BRICS countries in South Africa on July 27, Putin said telephone calls between Moscow and Washington were insufficient.
He said both he and Trump need to meet to talk about issues like the Iran nuclear deal and global conflicts.
Putin and Trump met in Helsinki last week, but Trump faced harsh criticism in the United States from Republicans and Democrats alike who said he sided with Russia over the conclusions of his own intelligence agencies that Moscow had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
John Bolton, Trump’s national security adviser, said on July 25 that the U.S. President wants to meet at the White House in 2019 – sometimes after the Justice Department’s probe into Russia’s alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. election has been completed.
Bolton said in a statement that Trump “believes the next bilateral meeting with President Putin should take place after the Russia witch hunt is over, so we’ve agreed it will be after the first of the year.”
