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The Kremlin has provided The White House with a 2 page document outlining a hoped-for statement at the conclusion of the approaching Trump-Putin summit in Helsinki, Finland on July 16th.
Russian news outlet Kommersant reported today, The US side is ready to take this document as a basis, but insists that, at the end of the summit, the White House’s concern about “Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections” be reflected in one form or another, and guarantees were given that “this will not happen again”.
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However, from the upcoming meeting, Kommersant’s interlocutors in Moscow and Washington do not expect breakthroughs. Russian National Security Advisor John Bolton, who visited Russia recently, answering a question from Kommersant about possible agreements between the two presidents, said that “the very fact of holding a meeting can be considered an achievement.” He specified that the talks will not be “rigidly structured” and for some time the presidents will simply talk one-on-one. At the same time, John Bolton did not rule out that the leaders of the two countries will agree on something concrete, added Kommersant.
Assistant to the Russian president Yuri Ushakov was more optimistic: according to him, the presidents can at least adopt a joint statement, “which will outline the further steps of the parties in terms of improving bilateral relations, and in terms of joint actions in the international arena.”
“Kissinger Associates political consultant Thomas Graham told Kommersant that Putin might be willing to acknowledge that nonstate actors from Russia were involved in the 2016 election. Carnegie Moscow Center director Dmitri Trenin, meanwhile, thinks Putin might agree to a more general joint statement against foreign political meddling,” writes Meduza.
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