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Russian President Vladimir Putin is "ready for a meeting" with his US counterpart Donald Trump, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Friday.
Moscow's chief diplomat added that such a summit was not currently being discussed but the Kremlin hopes that a meeting at the White House would materialize.
"President Putin is ready for such a meeting," Lavrov said in an interview with state news agency RIA Novosti.
Trump proposed a White House summit when he called Putin last month, prior to the mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from the US. The proposal has not moved forward since relations between the US and Russia deteriorated further over an alleged chemical attack in Syria.
"We are proceeding from the fact that the US president in a telephone conversation – that was made public, there is no secret about this – sent such an invitation and said that he would be happy to see (Putin) in the White House and then to meet him during a reciprocal visit," Lavrov noted.
"Since Trump suggested this, we proceed from the fact that he will make this concrete," he added.
Russia welcomes Trump-Kim summit
During the interview, Lavrov also said Moscow welcomed an expected summit between Trump and Kim Jong Un, the leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
"We cannot wish this meeting failure," Lavrov said.
"This would be a step away from the prospect of a military crisis and a military solution to the problem that is the Korean peninsula," he added. "We very much hope that he (Trump) starts the process of de-escalating tensions."
The odds of the Trump-Kim summit taking place were boosted by the news earlier this week that CIA chief Mike Pompeo had gone to Pyongyang to meet Kim for the most significant US-DPRK contact in almost two decades.
Lavrov compared the US and DPRK statements prior to the meeting to tensions between "boxers" before a match.
"Before the start of serious conversations it is like boxers entering the ring, showing off in front of one another before the fight," he said.
(AFP)
