US President Donald Trump has said, he is most likely to hold a summit with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Europe next month. He was talking to reporters during a joint media appearance with Polish President Rebelo De Sousa in Washington.
Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will be held on July 16 in Helsinki, the Kremlin and the White House said.
The optics of the meeting are likely to be as important to the leaders as its results. Moscow is keen to show it is not isolated on the world stage, while Trump has ignored criticism at home to plot a course towards closer relations with Putin.
Arms control and other security issues are likely to be among the main topics of discussion, although both sides have already played down the potential for the meeting to deliver concrete results.
“The two leaders will discuss relations between the United States and Russia and a range of national security issues,” the White House said in a statement.
Trump had said on Wednesday the meeting would likely take place after a July 11-12 summit of NATO leaders and that the Finnish capital was a possible venue.
Moscow and Washington announced the time and place of the meeting simultaneously.
The two countries struck a deal on Wednesday to hold a summit soon.