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WASHINGTON-U.S. President
Donald Trump
plans to raise the issue of "malicious activity" of Russia in Europe, its efforts to interfere in the 2016 US elections and allegations that Moscow possesses a prohibited missile technology during the war. a face-to-face meeting with the Russian President
Vladimir Poutine
later this month, a senior government official said Thursday
MM. Trump and Putin will meet on July 16 in Helsinki, Finland, for their first official bilateral meeting. The two will meet alone, before being joined by their advisers for an extended meeting later in the day, said the official, at a phone point with reporters
. Trump plans to insist on the use of the "hybrid war" by Moscow, according to the head of the Russian administration, as well as on its activities in the Balkans and the United Kingdom. who earlier this year accused Putin of ordering a nerve agent attack against a former Russian double agent in Britain. EU leaders have backed the UK in its charge, and the US has stepped up sanctions against Russia, partly on its alleged role in poisoning.
Jon Huntsman,
The US ambassador to Russia, told reporters at Thursday's call that the president hopes the meeting could ease tensions between nations. "You can not solve problems if you do not talk about them," he said. "The president thinks that a better relationship with Russia would be good for America and Russia," said Huntsman. "But the ball is really in the Russian camp."
Trump also plans to discuss arms control issues, including the alleged violations of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty by Russia, or the INF Treaty, an agreement signed in 1987 by Washington and Moscow to eliminate missiles conventional nuclear and conventional weapons from 500 to 5,500 kilometers (about 300 to 3,400 miles), as well as their launchers. The United States has claimed for years that Moscow has a forbidden missile technology; Russia, in turn, accused the United States of violating the pact
. The extent to which Mr Trump is urging his Russian counterpart on Moscow stock should be the subject of close scrutiny. The president has already expressed his skepticism over the conclusion of US intelligence agencies that Russia has interfered with the 2016 US elections and after meeting Putin last year, he tweeted that the Russian leader had "denied vehemently "electoral interference
Special advocate Robert Mueller investigates the complicity of Trump's associates with Moscow's attempts at electoral interference, which Mr. Trump has denied.
Asked about the gap between the president's tone towards Russia and the more aggressive behavior adopted According to some US officials, the senior administration official said: "We all talk about it a little differently. The President spoke of it in his own way. "
Trump has often expressed his interest in working with Putin on a series of international crises, particularly in Syria. Last month, he suggested that Russia be allowed to return to the Group of Seven's industrialized countries. The bloc, previously known as the Group of Eight, was reconfigured in the G-7 in 2014 when Russia was expelled from its country. invasion and annexation of Crimea.
Asked what the United States hoped to get from the summit, the senior official said Thursday, "The fact that we have a peak at this level right now in history is a deliverable in itself." The official pointed to Trump's meeting in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un last month, saying the meeting "has already shown the possibility of reducing tension."
The official said that two leaders would initially meet head-to-head, there will be no note taker to keep an official record of the discussion … because "the president has determined that it is now the moment direct communication. "
Trump will travel to Helsinki after attending the summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels and meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May in London next week.
At the summit, Trump will support his allies on military spending, Kay Bailey Hutchison, the US ambassador to NATO told reporters on Thursday. Last month, Trump sent a series of letters to European leaders warning them that they were not doing their part.
Hutchison sought to downplay the president's pressure campaign as the allies prepare for a tense meeting. She said the United States would discuss efforts by member countries to increase military spending "as a success," while noting the "need to do more.
Ms. "Our main areas of deterrence would be Russia and the evil activities of Russia, Russia's efforts to divide our democratic nation, the violations of the INF treaties," she added. I said. "All of these things are now handled by NATO and reinforced by deterrence and defense."
At the NATO summit last year, Mr. Trump let the European diplomats dismayed when he refused to say that he supported Article 5, while speaking at the dedication of a NATO memorial devoted to the layout. During his campaign, he had already raised questions about the US commitment to Article 5, the NATO charter stipulating that allies would defend each other if they were attacked.
He approved this provision two months later. 19659003] Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at [email protected]
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