Ifax: Russia ready to discuss Putin Washington visit

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Russia is ready to discuss a proposed new meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump, Interfax news agency cited Russia's ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, as saying on Friday.

The Russian ambassador was cited as saying it would be good to organize a meeting between Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and US counterpart James Mattis, adding that a group of US lawmakers are also planning to visit Russia.

US White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders said Thursday that President Donald Trump has asked National Security Adviser John Bolton to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington in autumn this year.

In a Twitter post, Sanders said that in Helsinki Trump had "agreed to ongoing working level dialogue between the two security council staffs."

"President Trump asked @Ambjohnbolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway," she added.

Screenshot of Sarah Sanders' tweet

Trump has been widely attacked after his meeting with Putin on July 16 in Finland, due to his reconciliatory remarks that many saw as a sign he'd sided with Moscow against the US intelligence community's conclusion that Russia meddled in the 2016 US elections.

What happened during the one-on-one meeting between Trump and Putin with only interpreters present remains unknown.

Antonov said Putin made concrete proposals to Trump about resolving the conflict in eastern Ukraine, Interfax said on Friday, though he did not spell out what these were.

Trump rejects Putin's proposal to let Russia interrogate US citizens

Meanwhile Trump has rejected a proposal by Putin to allow Russian officials to interrogate a former US ambassador and other American citizens.

“It is a proposal that was made in sincerity by President Putin, but President Trump disagrees with it,” said Sanders.

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives US President Donald Trump a soccer ball during their joint press conference in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

Putin had offered a quid-pro-quo of permitting US justice officials to go to Russia to question 12 intelligence officers indicted for hacking Democratic Party computers, in exchange for Russia being allowed to question former US envoy to Russia Michael McFaul and others.

“Hopefully President Putin will have the 12 identified Russians come to the United States to prove their innocence or guilt,” said Sanders.

McFaul expressed outrage on Wednesday when Sanders said Trump was “going to meet with his team” to consider Putin’s proposal, which the US leader had initially described as an “incredible offer.”

Addressing a joint press conference after his summit with Trump on Monday, Putin proposed the deal in response to a question on whether he would extradite the 12 Russian agents to face trial in the United States.

Moscow said it would like to interview McFaul and 11 other US officials and businessmen for its case against US-born billionaire investor William Browder, who Moscow has accused of financial crimes.

Source(s): AFP ,Reuters ,Xinhua News Agency