Kremlin: Putin and Trump may not meet in Paris
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump most probably will not be able to have full-fledged negotiations in Paris since the format of the event will not allow for it, stated Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov. Peskov said that the presidents will have “standing talks” to make a decision on a further meeting.
“There won’t be a detailed meeting in Paris. The multilateral format of the event devoted to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War does not allow for such a meeting,” Interfax quotes Peskov.
As reported by the TASS, Peskov said that the change in the meeting format has nothing to do with the disagreements between Russia and the US.
On October 23, Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced that Putin and Trump will hold a “normal bilateral meeting” during the events devoted to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War in Paris. He said that the sides had reached an agreement on holding a meeting during the talks of the US National Security Advisor to President John Bolton.
Peskov explained that Putin planned to “check the watches” during negotiations. “The main goal is to check the watches. You know that the presidents of Russia and the US traditionally have to exchange opinions on a lot of questions. There are still a lot of issues related to the strategic stability, especially after it became known that the US intends to leave the INF treaty,” Peskov had said.
In response, Trump had said that the meeting was not settled yet but it would probably take place.
Nevertheless, Trump announced on November 5 that he was going to Paris “for other reasons” and expressed a doubt that the events in Paris would be a “suitable place” for negotiations. “We haven’t settled up anything yet. We don't know that that's going to be the right place. I'm going to be in Paris for other reasons,” Trump said. He added that negotiations will probably take place in Argentina at the G20 summit. “And probably we'll have meetings after that -- probably plenty of meetings,” Trump explained and added that he is always willing to “get along with Russia, China, and other countries”.