Russian Presidential Aide:

No Breakthrough at Putin-Pompeo Talks

TEHRAN (defapress)- There was no breakthrough at the talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, but the United States showed its constructive approach, Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov said.

News ID: 77428

Date: 16 May 2019 - 14:54

"No, there is no breakthrough yet, but the US side demonstrated a constructive approach," Ushakov stated, according to TASS.

He reminded that this was the first visit of Pompeo to Russia in the capacity of US secretary of state.

At the same time, Ushakov noted that the telephone conversation between Putin and US President Donald Trump in early May "was very good", and the meeting with Pompeo was a continuation of that conversation.

Putin and Pompeo have discussed the possibility of organizing a meeting between the US and Russian leaders at the G20 summit, and Moscow is now expecting concrete proposals, Ushakov stated.

"They also touched upon the issue of organizing a possible meeting between the Russian president and the US president, in parcticualr on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan in June," he said.

"We are ready for any contacts. We can organize a meeting 'on the go' with President Trump. Alternatively, we can sit down for a more comprehensive discussion. Everything will depend on what our US partners want," he added.

He also noted that "there was no personal message from Putin to Trump".

Commenting on the contacts with Pompeo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters that politeness and amiability in the negotiations with the United States representatives do not mean that Russia is willing to give up its positions.

"If we are polite, this absolutely does not imply that we will make compromises that contradict Russian national interests," the foreign inister said.

Lavrov underlined that politeness and pliability "are two different notions", adding, "You should always be polite, and we are polite people."

"We talk on any topics coming from the idea that it’s important to talk and hear each other. And, by the way, we always hear others, while they don’t always do the same," the Russian top diplomat pointed out.

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