Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the capital of Argentina at 5:30 p.m. Moscow time [14:30 GMT] on December 1. Slightly more than two hours have been allotted for the meeting. Their extended talks will be also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov, a source in one of the delegations said.
At his forthcoming meeting with Trump in Argentina, Vladimir Putin intends to discuss bilateral relations, strategic security and regional conflicts, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Issues connected to bilateral relations will come first. We should give thought to how to start discussing bilateral relations, strategic security and disarmament, in addition to regional conflicts," RIA Novosti cited Peskov as saying.
"We do not need to agree on all issues, this is probably impossible, but it’s necessary for us to talk. This is in the interests of our two countries and in the interests of the entire world," the spokesman stressed, explaining that at first, the presidents will briefly contact, and then the Russian-U.S. talks will take place, which may last for nearly an hour.
Director of the Institute of Political Studies Sergei Markov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the most important topic of the Putin-Trump talks in Argentine will be the process of “divorce” in the field of strategic weapons. "It is necessary to make this process manageable," he said.
"In order to do this, we need to solve the second task - to restore the format of the dialogue. It is necessary to restore areas of interaction between the special services, the military and the foreign ministers," Sergei Markov said.
"In addition, we need an exchange of views on Syria and Iran. The United States, for example, says that it is necessary to ensure the security of Israel from Iran. Russia is ready to do for it - but what is the United States ready to do in response? The presidents may touch on the Ukrainian issue, but they will not discuss it in detail: Trump is not engaged in Ukraine, this is the sector of Mike Pompeo," the political scientist expects.
“We can expect Putin to open Trump’s eyes on what is happening in Ukraine and give him information on how the American budget is spent on maintaining the power of neo-Nazis in Kiev. Plus, they may touch on the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Turkey in connection with the conflict over the Khashoggi killing." Sergey Markov added.
Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev expects the presidents will try to reanimate the relations between the two countries. “The system of international relations and world security depend on the relations between the U.S. and Russia. Of course, the presidents will touch on a very important problem - the implementation of the INF Treaty,” he recalled.
"I don’t think that such issues as the Kerch incident will be discussed. It’s much more important to discuss a whole block of problems on Syria. Iran’s problems are also important," Alexander Gusev predicts.
"I hope that the goodwill of the two presidents will allow us to gradually normalize relations, because it harms both Russia and the United States and the world community as a whole," the of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting concluded.
Putin and Trump are expected to meet on December 1 during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires. The first meeting between the Russian and US leaders at this forum was held in Germany’s Hamburg in July 2017. Later that year, the presidents met ‘on the go’ at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vietnam. So far, the only round of talks between Putin and Trump, which was held not on the sidelines of any international summits, was held in July 2018 in Helsinki.
