White House invites Putin to Washington 'in early 2019', John Bolton announces

Staff Reporter
Updated
John Bolton, right, made the announcement after meeting President Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday: AFP
John Bolton, right, made the announcement after meeting President Putin at the Kremlin on Tuesday: AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to visit Washington in “early 2019”, Donald Trump’s national security advisor John Bolton has announced.

Mr Bolton spoke at a press conference in Georgia on Friday morning. He said scheduling for the trip had yet to be worked out, but Mr Putin would be invited “after the first of the year”.

“We have invited President Putin to Washington after the first of the year for, basically, a full day of consultations,” Mr Bolton said, days after meeting the Russian president in Moscow. “What the scheduling of that is, we don’t quite know yet.”

President Trump held a summit with Mr Putin in Helsinki, the Finnish capital, in July, and then issued Mr Putin an invitation to visit Washington in the autumn. But plans for a reciprocal visit were postponed after Mr Trump faced allegations of not being hard enough on the Kremlin.

It was not immediately clear if Mr Putin had accepted the invitation. The Russian president last held a meeting with his US counterpart on American soil in 2015, when he met Barack Obama on the sidelines of a UN general assembly.

Mr Trump’s earlier invitation to Mr Putin sparked outcry in Washington, including from members of the president’s Republican party, who argued Mr Putin was an adversary not worthy of a White House visit.

US intelligence agencies allege Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election and the matter is the subject of a federal investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller. That probe is also examining possible collusion between Moscow and Trump campaign officials. Russia denies any election meddling.

Mr Bolton said the two presidents are set to meet in Paris when they attend 11 November events marking 100 years since Armistice Day – although that meeting is expected to be brief.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov had a call with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to discuss “acute issues on the international agenda, and bilateral ties in the context of preparations for planned contacts between the presidents”, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report