Putin ‘remains open’ to summit with Trump
THE Kremlin said on Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin was still ready to hold a summit with US counterpart Donald Trump despite the mass Western expulsions of Russian diplomats in a spy row.
“This depends on the American side, but the Russian side remains open,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“Putin is ready and the Russian side is ready for mutually beneficial and mutually trustful relations with all countries including the US to the extent that our opponents or partners are ready for this.”
At least 25 countries decided to expel Russian diplomats in response to the March 4 attack on former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the English city of Salisbury.
London and its allies have blamed Moscow, citing the use of a Soviet-designed nerve agent dubbed Novichok, Russia’s record of targeting dissidents and its history of aggression in recent years, from Crimea to cyberattacks.
Washington led the way in responding, ordering out 60 Russian diplomats in a new blow to US-Russia ties less than a week after Trump congratulated Putin on his re-election and raised the prospect of a summit “in the not-toodistant future”.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Russia’s involvement in the nerve agent attack and Peskov played down Wednesday the extent of the diplomatic fallout.
“Twenty or 30 countries are just a part of the global community and it is much bigger and varied and includes many more countries,” Peskov said. He claimed some countries that backed London still believed Britain had not provided enough evidence to prove Russia’s involvement.