Russia blames 'inflexible Americans' for failure of Trump Putin meeting
The presidents of the US and Russia did not have a formal meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam due to a lack of flexibility on the part of Trump’s security protocol, as stated by Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, TASS reports.
“We tried to coordinate a separate formal meeting, and this was done through protocol and other channels,” Peskov said, explaining why Putin and Trump had exchanged a few words while “on the move” instead of having full-fledged talks.
“This time the American party, despite all our team’s efforts, did not offer any alternative options: one time was proposed, which did not suit the Russian party, and one location – premises rented by the American party, although the meeting was supposed to be held in Russian territory,” Putin’s press secretary added.
“The Americans did not demonstrate flexibility, and did not make alternative offers,” he added.
Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin did not talk at the reception in Da Nang, Vietnam, in honor of the leaders of the APEC countries.
Putin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the absence of a formal meeting between Trump and Putin was compensated by numerous small conversations on the sidelines of the APEC summit.
Putin himself remarked that his meeting with the US President did not take place because “Russian-US relations have not escaped the crisis”.
Earlier the White House reported that the US President would not have a private meeting with his Russian counterpart while in Vietnam, where as the Kremlin said that Putin and Trump would meet.