FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Putin Speaks with Bolton in Moscow, Agrees to Nov. 11 Meeting with Trump in Paris
Oct. 23, 2018 (EIRNS)—Russian President Vladimir Putin told U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton today in Moscow that he would like to hold new talks with U.S. President Donald Trump. The Nov. 11 celebrations for the centennial of the end of World War I in Paris, on Nov. 11, was suggested by Putin as an appropriate venue. Bolton replied that he believes Trump would look forward to such a meeting.
Later and more formally, Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told TASS, “The presidents will hold a bilateral meeting” planned for Nov. 11, with the length of the meeting to be decided by them. “This will be a normal bilateral meeting,” he said.
Nonetheless Putin told Bolton that Russia was puzzled by the America’s “unprovoked moves that are hard to call friendly.” According to U.S. News & World Report, he said he would like to discuss various arms control issues, including Trump’s declaration that he intends to pull the United States out of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Putin then referred to America’s coat of arms showing an eagle holding a bundle of 13 arrows in one talon and an olive branch with 13 olives in another. Laughing, Putin asked Bolton if the eagle had eaten all the olives. Bolton noted that the olive branch was in the right talon—showing its priority—rather than the left as Putin had first thought.
On Oct. 22, Bolton met with Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev. Talks lasted for five hours. Topics included Russian-U.S. bilateral relations, strategic stability and global security, disarmament and arms control, acute regional crises. The press service of the Russian Security Council described the meeting as “business-like and constructive.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also held 90 minutes of talks with Bolton on Oct. 22 behind closed doors. The Russian Foreign Ministry said:
“The sides exchanged views on topical international problems, including the situation around Syria and Afghanistan, the conditions in Ukraine and on the Korean Peninsula. They also discussed prospects for cooperation between our countries, including in the interests of finding solutions to regional conflicts, efficient fight against terrorism, and maintaining strategic stability.”
On the INF Treaty, Russia will “decide on our position based not on intentions, but on clearly expressed decisions,” Lavrov stressed.
