The Kremlin announced this Monday that talks have begun surrounding a potential meeting between the U.S President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Although no specific date has been confirmed, the Kremlin suggested a meeting could happen prior to a G20 summit this July.
Whilst Trump and Putin have yet to meet, both men have expressed a desire to resolve the poor relations between Russia and the U.S.
Ties between the two nations reached their weakest level since the Cold War, after Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014.
The new U.S. administration is under pressure over Russia however because Michael Flynn, Trump’s national security adviser, is struggling to get past the controversy over a call he had with the Russian ambassador to the United States Sergei Kislyak before Trump took office.
Over the weekend top White House officials were reviewing Flynn’s contacts in order to conclude whether the national security adviser discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia once Trump took office. Should this be the case, Flynn’s conversations with the Russian ambassador may be in violation of a law that bans private citizens from engaging in U.S foreign policy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded to questioning this Monday via a conference call. He said Flynn and Kislyak had not discussed lifting sanctions on Moscow.
“Obviously every ambassador informs the centre (Moscow) about all the contacts he has so the information gets to us, but we are not willing to comment on internal discussions being held in Washington,” Peskov said.
When asked about talks that may have taken place between any Russian and U.S. representatives regarding sanctions, Peskov said: “We have already said there have not been any [such talks]”.