Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said he was ready to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump as soon as Washington was ready, adding Vienna could be a possible venue for such a summit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said he was ready to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump as soon as Washington was ready, adding Vienna could be a possible venue for such a summit.
« As soon as the American side is ready this meeting would take place depending on my working schedule of course, » Putin told reporters in the Chinese city of Qingdao.
« The US president himself repeatedly said that he would consider such a meeting helpful. I can confirm this. It’s true, » Putin said.
He said he did not discuss a possible meeting venue with Trump but « many » countries including Austria were keen to help in organising such a summit.
« But I believe it’s a technical issue, » he said.
« It’s important for such meetings — if they take place — to have concrete contents. »
The Wall Street Journal, citing a senior European official, reported that Putin asked Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on a visit to Vienna earlier this week to help organise such a meeting and that Washington was considering it.
Under the conservative Kurz, Austria has strived to act as a mediator between Russia and the West.
While the EU-state imposed sanctions on Russia over Crimea along with the rest of the bloc, Austria did not expel Russian diplomats like other Western nations following the March poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Britain, an attack London has accused Moscow of being behind.
