Washington: The White House on Thursday said that President Donald Trump has plans to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington this autumn for the next meeting. The announcement came after four days of the summit held in Helsinki, the Finnish capital. The summit had let to an uproar in the United States over Trump’s failure to speak against the Russian President Vladimir Putin over the issue of Moscow’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Sarah Sanders, the White House spokeswoman stated in a Twitter post that the US President had directed national security adviser John Bolton to issue a notification of the invitation. The details of the Monday’s summit was not briefed about to U.S. lawmakers and top officials in Trump’s administration. The only ones present at the meeting apart from the two Presidents were the interpreters.
Dan Coats, director of national intelligence in Trump’s administration, said that even he does not know what happened at the summit in Helsinki. “Well, you’re right, I don’t know what happened at that meeting,” Coats said in response to a question at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
The invitation to Washington may seem to be a much-awaited opportunity for the Russian President Putin, whose last official visit to the USA was more than a decade ago in July 2007. During the last visit, he spent two days at the Bush family living compound located in Kennebunkport, Maine.
Both the Presidents, Trump, and Putin asserted earlier on Thursday that their first meeting was a great success and blamed forces in the United States who were attempting to belittle its achievements. Back at home, Trump was forced to take back his statement over Russia’s meddling in the U.S. Presidential election. But despite such hue and cry, Trump made it sure that everyone gets to know that he was looking forward to his second meeting with the Russian leader.
Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, immediately criticized the planned invitation. “Until we know what happened at that two-hour meeting in Helsinki, the president should have no more one-on-one interactions with Putin. In the United States, in Russia, or anywhere else,” he said in a statement.
Dmitri Medvedev, now Russian prime minister, was the President of Russia when he paid a visit to the United States in June 2010 in his official capacity.
Meanwhile, Putin’s proposal that Russian authorities be present for the interrogation of Americans it accuses of “illegal activities,” was rejected by the White House with President Trump under fierce criticism in the United States. The list of Americans accused also includes a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow.
It was the latest U-turn from the White House since it struggled to quiet down the uproar after the Helsinki summit. As per the critics complain, Trump got an ample opportunity during a joint news conference on Monday to speak against Putin over Russian interference in the U.S. election but instead accepted Putin’s denials over the word of American intelligence agencies.
On Tuesday, Trump acknowledged that he misspoke during the joint news conference. Then on Wednesday, Trump replied back with a simple “no” to a reporter’s question on whether Russia was still targeting the United States. The issue was cleared by Sanders saying that he was denying to reply to any questions by saying “no” and that was not an answer to the question itself.
You May Also Read: BJP Ally Akali Dal Leader Urges PM Modi To Speak Against Mob Killing Today