US President Donald Trump is tempering expectations for his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, describing the meeting as a “setting the table” exercise.
The Friday meeting (Saturday AEST) will mark the first time the Russian leader has been on US soil since 2007.
In an interview on the Brian Kilmeade Show on Fox Radio overnight, Trump said he foresaw “a 25 per cent chance” that his coming sit-down with Putin would “not be a successful meeting”, and again stressed that he saw it as a precursor to a potential second, more important gathering.
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“The second meeting is going to be very, very important, because that’s going to be a meeting where they make a deal. And I don’t want to use the word ‘divvy’ things up, but you know, to a certain extent,” he said.
At a White House event later, Trump suggested that some allied nations could participate in the second meeting and that it may also take place in Alaska.
“We’re going to have a meeting with President Putin, [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky, myself. And maybe we’ll bring some of the European leaders along, maybe not,” Trump said.
“All I want to do is set the table for the next meeting,” he added. “I’d like to see it happen very quickly, very shortly after this meeting, I’d like to see it actually happen, maybe in Alaska, where we just stay because it’s so much easier.”
Bloomberg
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