UPDATE - Next Putin-Trump Summit Not Discussed Yet - Kremlin

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2018) The issue of holding the next meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump has not yet been discussed, the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Friday.

"The issue of holding a bilateral meeting has not been raised neither by Moscow nor by Washington. The meeting is not being prepared. Let us wait for what [US National Security Adviser John] Bolton brings to Trump [from his Russian trip], what he tells Putin. Maybe new input will emerge," Peskov told Russia's Channel One broadcaster.

The spokesman noted that both presidents would participate in upcoming international events, including the G20 meeting in Argentina in late November and the centenary of the end of World War I in the same month.

"We have not received any impulses from the United States. Our will to develop the dialogue with the United States runs into a blank wall. Occasional events, such as the visit of Mr. Bolton, cannot fully improve the situation. Still, we do not want to abandon our search for ways to improve dialogue with Washington on the basis of our own interests," the spokesman pointed out.

Speaking about chemistry between Putin and Trump, Peskov noted it was hard to measure such things.

"I do not think [Putin has] chemistry or any special relations with Trump. They did not have any opportunity [to establish such relations]. Chemistry at first sight, love at first site are off the subject. Putin and Trump have not yet been able to feel each other. The essence of discussions, the way some questions were put in the rare moments of communication between the Russian and US leaders have not always between reflected in real actions. This is, of course, very regretful," Peskov pointed out.

The Kremlin spokesman emphasized that no chemistry should make a president abandon his national interests. Friendship was not what could guarantee that the talks on some issues would not be tense, the official noted.

Peskov recalled Putin's friendship with German ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, noting that they had had severe disputes on pressing issues.

After Trump was sworn in in January 2017, the US president has met with Putin several times on the sidelines of various international events. Their first full-fledged meeting was held in July after Putin's re-election.

Russia has expressed readiness to discuss the possibility of arrangement of the second meeting between the two presidents if Washington is interested in continuing high-level dialogue.