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Trump arrives in Vietnam for APEC summit, will not meet Putin separately
US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will be attending the APEC Summit in Vietnam.
US President Donald Trump landed in Vietnam on Friday for a summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) nations, the fourth leg of his 12-day Asia trip.
The White House has said Trump will set out a US vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific region” in a speech in the beach resort of Danang.
Trump arrived from China, where he praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping as “highly respected” and Chinese media had declared the visit had set a “new blueprint” for handling US-China relations and differences.
Trump will not have a separate meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the APEC summit in Vietnam due to scheduling conflicts, the White House said on Friday.
“Regarding a Putin meeting, there was never a meeting confirmed, and there will not be one that takes place due to scheduling conflicts on both sides,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters minutes before landing in Danang.
“Now, they’re going to be in the same place. Are they going to bump into each other and say hello? Certainly possible and likely. But in terms of a scheduled, formal meeting, there’s not one on the calendar and we don’t anticipate that there will be one,” Sanders said.
On Sunday the US president said “it’s expected we’ll meet with Putin” to discuss North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.
Four days later Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told Russian news agencies that the two would hold a meeting in Vietnam with the time and place still to be determined.
But hours later US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said no decision had been made on talks, which would be the first between the two men since they met at the G20 summit in Germany in July.
Trump’s relationship with Moscow has haunted the first year of his administration.
His former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and an associate are under house arrest on charges including conspiracy to launder money, linked to the investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller into allegations that the campaign colluded with Russia.
Russia has denied allegations of interfering in the US election last year that brought Trump to power.
