July 3 (UPI) — Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss a variety of topics with President Donald Trump when the leaders meet this week at the G20 summit in Germany, the Kremlin said Monday.
The summit will take place this weekend in Hamburg.
Among the topics expected to be discussed is the return of property U.S. officials effectively seized when it closed the Russian embassy in Washington and other diplomatic offices in the United States at the end of December.
The Kremlin said Putin is expected to call for a “most rapid resolution” to the property dispute. A Putin spokesman also said Monday the Kremlin is losing patience in the matter.
Putin previously said he planned to meet with Trump on the sidelines of the summit, in what would be the first meeting of the leaders since Trump took office in January.
The meeting is expected to be significant in light of the ongoing diplomatic difficulties between Moscow and Washington over the Kremlin’s reputed interference in the U.S. presidential election last fall.
“It has been agreed that the presidents will meet though their schedules are rather tight,” Kremlin Aide Yuri Ushakov said Monday. “However, we will keep in touch with our U.S. counterparts to find an interval for this most important meeting.
“It is necessary to break the current impasse in bilateral relations. This is equally important for us and for the Americans.”
In December, Trump praised Putin and called him “very smart” when the Russian leader said he didn’t want to take immediate retaliatory measures to the sanctions.
