Five-power summit discussed with Russia
WASHINGTON, D.C. (AFP) — The United States said Monday that it spoke with Russia about convening a summit of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, a key priority for President Vladimir Putin.
In a telephone call, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov “discussed convening P5 leaders in the near future to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations,” the State Department said.
A key priority for President Vladimir Putin.
Putin has been urging such a summit that would bring him together with US President Donald Trump, potentially just before the Republican vies for reelection in November.
The summit would also include President Xi Jinping of China, with which the United States has deteriorating relations, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The statement did not say when and where such a five-way summit may take place.
Trump has separately voiced openness to inviting Putin to the Washington area for an expanded summit of the Group of Seven industrial democracies.
Under Putin, Moscow’s role in the World War II victory against Nazi Germany in 1945 has increasingly dominated historical discussion, and he has complained that the West has diminished the Soviet contribution.
He renewed the call for the summit, saying the COVID-19 pandemic would be discussed, in an opinion piece he wrote last month for the US magazine