A long-awaited summit between U.S. President Donald J. Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will take place in Helsinki on July 16, the Kremlin and the White House said in simultaneous statements Thursday.
“An agreement has been reached that on July 16 in Helsinki there will be a meeting between the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and the President of the United States Donald Trump,” the Kremlin said.
The talks will see the two leaders discuss “the current state and prospects for development of Russian-U.S. relations,” according to the release.
A statement from the White House said the men would also broach “a range of national security issues.”
Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton met Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. The two discussed the details of the first full summit between the presidents.
Russia continues to say they had nothing to do with Meddling in our Election! Where is the DNC Server, and why didn’t Shady James Comey and the now disgraced FBI agents take and closely examine it? Why isn’t Hillary/Russia being looked at? So many questions, so much corruption!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 28, 2018
U.S.-Russian relations have hit lows not seen since the Cold War over Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, its involvement in eastern Ukraine and allegations of political meddling, as well as disagreement over the Syrian conflict.
Since coming to power last year, Trump has sought to improve relations with Putin amid tensions between Moscow and the West.
Trump said this month that Russia should be re-admitted to the G7 group of industrialised democracies from which it was suspended after annexing Crimea in 2014.
That comment came at a summit which ended in sharp disagreement between Trump and his G7 allies.
Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump will meet in Helsinki on July 16
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— Russia in USA ???????? (@RusEmbUSA) June 28, 2018
The last, brief meeting between Putin and Trump took place in November 2017 in Vietnam during an APEC summit.
Trump is due to attend the July 11 and 12 NATO summit in Brussels before heading to Britain to meet with Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II on July 13.
