Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Trump Advisor John Bolton to meet in Moscow
Interfax reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will meet with US National Security Adviser John Bolton on June 27 in Moscow. Information about the upcoming meeting was released by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On June 21, White House spokesperson Garrett Marquis announced on his Twitter account that Bolton would visit Moscow in preparation for a meeting between the Presidents of the United States and Russia. Information about the forthcoming visit by the official was later confirmed in the Kremlin. Lavrov reported on June 22 that he plans to meet with an advisor to the American leader.
Bolton is a member of the US Republican Party and served as the country’s UN Representative from 2005 to 2006. According to British newspaper The Times, he is "one of the most hawkish, anti-Russia figures within the Republican Party." The newspaper quotes Bolton as saying in 2013 that the US should strive to "hurt Putin". When Putin declared that Russia did not interfere in the US elections in 2017, he called the Russian leader "a liar."
On June 15, US President Donald Trump did not rule out that a meeting with Putin this summer. A spokesman for the Russian leader, Dmitry Peskov, has announced that there is no exact information on a meeting between the two leaders, though they have ruled out a meeting prior to the upcoming NATO summit (July 11-12).