11/5/2018

FRANCE/RUSSIA/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday [11-5-18] he was unsure if he would meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a visit to Paris next week, but he will meet him at the summit of the Group of 20 nations in Argentina at the end of the month…Trump and Putin had planned to hold a bilateral meeting in Paris on Nov. 11 on the sidelines of events to commemorate the centenary of the end of World War One. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA news agency that Putin and Trump were bound to meet, but will not hold ‘substantive’ talks…He said the two would have ‘standing talks’ in Paris to make a decision on a further formal meeting. Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, said last month the Paris meeting would be brief and more of ‘a base-touching exercise’ during which the two leaders will discuss whether Putin would accept Trump’s invitation to come to Washington.”

Reuters, “Trump Unsure if He Will Meet With Putin in Paris,” The New York Times online, November 5, 2018