United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin have scheduled a bilateral meeting for July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, the White House said in a press release on Thursday.
It was also confirmed by Kremlin.
“President Donald J. Trump and President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will meet on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki, Finland,” the release said.
The Kremlin has confirmed that US-Russian summit will be held in Helsinki on July 16.
The leaders seek to reverse a downward spiral in relations that have been exacerbated by findings that Russia meddled in the U.S. elections.
The announcement of the summit — being the third time the two leaders will have met face to face — was made simultaneously by the two governments on Thursday as part of a carefully choreographed rollout.
“I think a lot of good things can come from meetings with people. Maybe something positive will come out of it,” The UK Guardian quoted Trump as saying in Washington DC on Wednesday.
During a visit to Moscow on Wednesday, the US national security adviser, John Bolton, defended the planned summit, blaming opponents of Trump for trying to score points by creating “political noise”.
He said Trump would go ahead with the meeting “regardless of political criticism,” the medium added.
Source: AFP
