Putin's Spokesman Says No Preparations For Trump Meeting Underway

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK/VLADIVOSTOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th December, 2019) SAKHALINSK/VLADIVOSTOK, December 15 (Sputnik) - No meeting is being planned between the presidents of Russia and the United States that the Kremlin knows of, Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

"At the moment, there are no preparations for a summit going forward. Putin is probably open for any contacts. He said so repeatedly," Peskov told Channel One's Big Game show.

A lot of bilateral issues require attention of both presidents, he added. This includes arms controls and the renewal of the New START treaty, which expires in February 2021.

Peskov said that the presidents had held "quite positive talks" in the past, but this positive attitude was never carried over into the relationship between their countries.

"We never close eyes to a sharp contrast between the words 'we will get along well' ... and sanctions that are routinely imposed by different branches of power in the US," he explained.

Peskov put this dichotomy down to a split in the American society. He said internal political processes in the US caused Russia to be increasingly "demonized" there despite the US leadership realizing that this attitude was rooted in political polarization of their own country.