Time, place agreed for Trump-Putin summit
Full details will be announced Thursday
MOSCOW — Signaling a growing rapprochement between the United States and Russia, the White House and the Kremlin on Thursday will announce the date and location of a summit meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Both men have pursued the têteà-tête in hopes of soothing tensions over Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, and its aggression in Ukraine and elsewhere, despite retaliatory actions taken by both of their governments earlier this year.
Plans for the Trump-Putin summit were finalized in Moscow Wednesday by national security adviser John Bolton, who held meetings in the Russian capital that included talks with Putin at the Kremlin.
Trump has long sought to cultivate a warm friendship with his Russian counterpart as a means to solving intractable problems around the world and has said he admires the strength of Putin’s authoritarian rule. Bolton said Wednesday that Trump “believes so strongly” that now is the time for a new level of personal engagement — and that Putin agreed.
“Both President Trump and President Putin think they may be able to find constructive solutions,” Bolton said at a news conference in Moscow after his meetings. “I’d like to hear someone say that’s a bad idea.”
Bolton said the summit’s time and place would be announced simultaneously on Thursday in Washington and Moscow. The summit is expected to take place in mid-July somewhere outside Russia during Trump’s trip to Europe for a NATO summit meeting July 11 and 12 in Brussels, and a visit to Britain on July 13. There is speculation that Trump and Putin could meet in Helsinki or Vienna.
Looking ahead to his Putin meeting, Trump told reporters Wednesday, “I’ve said it from day one, getting along with Russia and China, and with everybody is a very good thing.”