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Ushakov, speaking after Vladimir Putin held talks with U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton in the Kremlin, said that the summit would take place in a mutually convenient third country and that several more weeks were needed to prepare for it.
“This meeting has been planned for a long time,” said Ushakov. “It has enormous importance for Russia and America, but it (also) has huge importance for the whole international situation. I think it will be the main international event of the summer.”
Such a summit is likely to anger U.S. allies who want to isolate Putin. It is also likely to go down badly among foreign and domestic critics who question Trump’s commitment to NATO and fret over his desire to rebuild ties with Moscow, even as Washington tightens sanctions.
Ushakov said that Moscow and Washington would announce the time and place of the summit tomorrow. Further details have yet to be worked out.
The meeting is expected to take place after Trump attends a NATO summit and visits Britain next month. A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday that Finland’s capital Helsinki was being considered as a possible location.
Bolton, who warned last year before his own appointment that Washington can only negotiate with Putin at its own peril, will hold a press conference today, where he may provide further details.
Trump congratulated Putin by phone in March after the Russian leader’s landslide re-election victory and said that the two would meet soon.
Since then, the already poor ties between Washington and Moscow have deteriorated further over the conflict in Syria and the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain, which sparked big diplomatic expulsions in both countries.
The U.S. and Russia are also at odds over Ukraine and allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, something Russia denies.
Expectations for the outcome of any Putin-Trump summit are therefore low, even though Trump said before he was elected that he wanted to improve U.S.-Russia ties.
A special prosecutor in the U.S. has indicted Russian firms and individuals for meddling in the presidential election, and is investigating whether anyone in Trump’s campaign helped the Russian effort. Trump denies any wrongdoing and calls the investigation a “witch hunt.”
Washington initially sanctioned Russia over its 2014 annexation of Crimea and its backing for a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine. Subsequent sanctions have punished Moscow for what the U.S. has called its malign behavior and alleged meddling in American politics.
Some Trump critics say that Russia has not significantly altered its behavior since 2014 and should therefore not be given the prestige that they believe a summit would confer.
