During an interview with The Washington Post Tuesday, President Trump said he might cancel his G20 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin due to increased aggression after Russia attacked three Ukrainian naval ships Sunday.
Trump said he would be receiving a “full report” from his national security team on Russia’s recent actions in eastern Ukraine and the Black Sea. He said he would decide on a course afterward.
“Maybe I won’t have the meeting,” he said. “Maybe I won’t even have the meeting.”
Trump added: “I don’t like that aggression. I don’t want that aggression at all.”
The Kremlin says it has heard no such thing.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that the meeting is on and that Russia has not received “any other information from our U.S. counterparts.”
Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, noted that the meeting, which is set for Saturday, has been prepared through official channels and Moscow expects Washington to notify it of any changes in the same way.
“This meeting is necessary for both sides,” Ushakov said. “It’s important in view of the developing situation in the world.”
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Ushakov, Putin’s aide, said the naval encounter between Russia and Ukraine likely will be on the agenda of the planned meeting, which will start with the two presidents meeting privately before being joined by senior officials.
He said the Kremlin expects that the talks will touch on nuclear arms control, noting that it’s particularly important to discuss them in view of the U.S. intention to withdraw from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.
“It’s extremely important to prevent an uncontrollable and senseless arms race,” he said.
Ushakov said the two presidents also are to discuss regional crises, including the situation in Syria, the Iranian nuclear deal and North Korea.
The meeting between Trump and Putin is set to be just one of several high-profile foreign-policy engagements for the U.S. leader on the whirlwind two-day visit to Argentina.
Kremlin says it expects Putin-Trump meeting to go ahead (AP)