Kremlin expects first Putin-Trump meeting to establish working dialogue

The Kremlin hopes that the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Hamburg on July 7 to be held in a working atmosphere and that the two leaders will establish a working dialogue.

"This is the first meeting, the first acquaintance of the two presidents, and that’s the importance of the meeting," Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "We expect a working dialogue to be established that is probably vital for the entire world in terms of increasing the effectiveness of solving the critical amount of conflicts and problems that are growing every day," he noted.

Peskov added that Putin is likely to discuss bilateral cooperation on the fight against terrorism in Syria during his talks with Trump, adding that the leaders were also most likely to discuss "perspectives for the inter-Syrian settlement."

According to Peskov, Putin will reiterate Moscow’s stance at the meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump in Hamburg that there is the need to fulfill the Minsk agreements to solve the Ukrainian crisis and take steps to stop provocations carried out by Ukraine’s forces.

"This will be a good opportunity to reiterate Russia’s position that there is no alternative to the Minsk agreements, and that it is necessary to implement the Minsk deal and take steps to halt provocations that have been carried out by Ukraine’s armed forces, unfortunately," TASS cited Peskov as saying.