NORTH KOREA/NUCLEAR/RUSSIA/SUMMIT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia made a public show of support for North Korea on nuclear disarmament, seeming to undermine President Trump’s approach to nuclear diplomacy, as Mr. Putin and Kim Jong-un on Thursday [4-25-19] wrapped up their first summit meeting. Russian officials have long insisted they wanted to support Mr. Trump’s efforts at one-on-one nuclear negotiations with Mr. Kim, the North Korean leader. But speaking to reporters after the meeting in Vladivostok, on Russia’s Pacific Ocean coast, Mr. Putin said that North Korea needs security guarantees from more nations than just the United States before abandoning its nuclear arsenal…At talks in February in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, Mr. Trump had proposed a ‘big deal’ to lift punishing economic sanctions in return for a quick and complete elimination of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Mr. Kim offered, instead, only a partial dismantling of nuclear facilities — while keeping his arsenal of nuclear warheads and missiles — in exchange for relief from the most harmful sanctions.”
–Andrew E. Kramer and Choe Sang-Hun, “After Meeting Kim Jong-un, Putin Supports North Korea on Nuclear Disarmament,” The New York Times online, April 25, 2019