WASHINGTON, May 14 -- Washington has not yet approached Moscow with an initiative to organize a bilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka in late June, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. "So far, there have been no initiatives from Washington," Peskov said commenting on Trump’s statement about his plans to meet with Putinin Japan. According to Reuters, Trump reportedly said he plans to hold meetings with Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Japan’s Osaka scheduled for June 28-29. Earlier, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov also said Moscow had received no requests from Washington for organizing a meeting between the two presidents. The only full-format talks between Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Donald Trump of the United States were held in July 2018 in Helsinki. The two leaders have had a number of meetings on the sidelines of high-profile international events but have failed to agree on a date for new talks. They were supposed to meet in late November or early December 2018, at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires but the meeting was cancelled by Trump at a moment’s notice over the incident with Ukrainian ships in the Kerch Strait. Nevertheless, the two leaders briefly exchanged opinions on the sidelines of the event. On May 3, Putin and Trump had a 90-minute telephone conversation.
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JERUZALEM, May 13 -- President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas expects to hold a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Meeting on Cooperation and Confidence Measures in Asia in Dushanbe on June 15, Palestine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Riyad al-Maliki said. "I expect that it will happen the next month in Tajikistan, where a summit on cooperation and confidence measures in Asia will be held," he said. "As far as we understand, President Putin will participate in it, and our president will also be there. We are working to organize their meeting during the summit." The Kremlin has not officially announced yet that Putin is planning to meet with Abbas in Dushanbe. Riyad al-Maliki reiterated that his last meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was held two weeks ago on the sidelines of the Russian-Arab Cooperation Forum. "We discussed the situation in Palestine, the Israeli position on the so-called occupied territories, and the expected deal of the century (the US’ proposal on the Palestinian-Israeli settlement)," the minister stated. It was especially important to him "that Lavrov affirmed that the Russian side will not recognize ‘the deal of the century’ in case it violates the earlier reached multilateral agreements," he said. "The Russian representatives explained that their position coincides with the UN’s stance, with the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly and they expect the other states to respect them," the minister noted. MOSCOW, May 13 -- US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has cancelled his visit to Moscow scheduled for Monday but plans to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Sochi on Tuesday as planned. Reuters reported citing a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. On Monday, instead of Moscow, Pompeo will arrive in Brussels, where he will discuss the situation concerning Iran with EU officials. According to Reuters, he has departed from Washington and is heading to Europe. Earlier reports said that Pompeo would come to Moscow on Monday. The US secretary of state is expected to arrive in Sochi on Tuesday afternoon and hold talks with Lavrov. Kremlin did not rule out that Russian President Vladimir Putin would receive Pompeo in Sochi. TOKYO, May 10. Tokyo seeks to bring relations with Moscow to a new level, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said at a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Friday. "Today, I would like to have a detailed conversation with you, Mr. Lavrov, seeking to resolve the territorial issue, which has remained unresolved for a long time, and make a peace treaty, while boosting bilateral relations in a wide range of areas and thus brining Japan-Russia relations to a new level," the Japanese top diplomat said. "True partnership between Japan and Russia will contribute to stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, and it will also be in line with the two countries’ strategic interests," Taro Kono added. According to him, the number of Russians who visited Japan in March 2019 had increased by more than 30% compared to the same period in 2018, reaching a new high. Peace treaty issueSince the mid-20th century, Russia and Japan have been holding consultations in order to clinch a peace treaty as a follow-up to World War II. The Kuril Islands issue remains the sticking point since after WWII the islands were handed over to the Soviet Union while Japan laid claims to the four southern islands. In 1956, the two countries signed a joint declaration on ending the state of war and restoring diplomatic and all other relations, however, a peace treaty has still not been reached. Moscow has stated many times that Russia’s sovereignty over the islands cannot be called into question. On November 14, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Singapore and agreed that the two countries would speed up peace treaty talks based on the 1956 declaration. The two countries’ foreign ministers, Sergey Lavrov and Taro Kono, oversee the negotiations conducted by their deputies, Igor Morgulov and Takeo Mori. The Joint Declaration said that the Soviet government was ready to hand Shikotan Island and a group of small islands over to Japan, adding that Tokyo would get actual control of the islands after a peace treaty was signed. However, after Japan and the United States had signed the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security in 1960, the Soviet Union withdrew its obligation to hand over the islands. A Soviet government’s memorandum dated January 27, 1960, said that those islands would only be handed over to Japan if all foreign troops were pulled out of the country. MOSCOW, May 7 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin can meet with US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in Sochi on May 14, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. He recalled that the talks between Pompeo and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were scheduled to be held in Sochi on May 14. "That’s the main thing planned for Pompeo in Sochi, but we do not rule out that Pompeo will be received by the Russian president following these negotiations," Peskov said. That will be the second Lavrov-Pompeo meeting this month. They held talks in Finland on May 6, which lasted about an hour and made it possible, according to Russia’s top diplomat, to take a step forward in continuation of the May 3 telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump initiated by Washington. CARACAS, May 7 -- The Venezuelan authorities are investigating the deaths of five people in anti-government demonstrations on April 30, Prosecutor General Tarek Willian Saab said on Tuesday. "A total of 233 people were detained, five people died. All these cases are being investigated by the prosecutor's office," Saab told Venevision TV channel. The prosecutor's office has already requested orders for arresting 18 "military and civilians who conspired" to overthrow the government, he said adding that 17 searches have been carried out as well. On April 30 a military group sided with the Venezuelan opposition, which led to massive anti-government protests in the country. Dozens of people were injured in clashes with security forces. WASHINGTON, May 6 -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Sunday that special counsel Robert Mueller should not testify before Congress, after it was reported that the House of Representatives has sent out an invitation. "Bob Mueller should not testify. No redos for the Dems!" Trump said in a multi-part tweet. "Are they looking for a redo because they hated seeing the strong NO COLLUSION conclusion?" Trump said in the strong-worded tweet, which also lamented the two-year-long Russia probe that was headed by Mueller and had cost 35 million dollars. Trump's remarks came after it was reported earlier in the day that the House Judiciary Committee is proposing for Mueller to testify regarding his 448-page-long report on collusion and obstruction of justice allegations. "We are aiming to bring Mueller in on the 15th, but nothing has been agreed to yet. That's the date the Committee has proposed, and we hope the special counsel will agree to it," David Cicilline, member of the House Judiciary Committee said in a tweet. A previous hearing in which U.S. Attorney General William Barr testified did not satisfy Democrats, with some Democratic lawmakers accusing Barr of lying to Congress. The dissatisfaction toward Barr can be traced to a four-page summary Barr released soon after receiving the Mueller report, which said the report had determined that there had been no collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign, and that there was insufficient proof for obstruction charges. It was reported that Mueller took issue with the summary, telling Barr in a letter that the report "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance." A few days ago, White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway told reporters that Mueller should testify "if he wants to." CARACAS, May 6 -- The current situation in Venezuela reflects a new round of struggle for control over that country’s resources and wealth, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza told reporters at a news conference in Moscow on Monday. "We are witnessing the historic struggle for control over our country’s wealth, control over incomes from the oil industry, for potential incomes from natural resources and energy resources, which Venezuela has," he stressed, commenting on US-backed pressure exerted on his country. Venezuela’s top diplomat noted that "the Venezuelan people came to power as a result of the Bolivarian Revolution (a social and political movement founded after Hugo Chavez was elected the President of Venezuela). "What we have seen over the past twenty years are various chapters of the fight for control over Venezuela’s oil potential," he stressed. MOSCOW, May 1 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on granting the right to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure for certain groups of Ukrainian citizens. The decree was published on Wednesday on the official Internet legal information portal. The document says that this simplified procedure of obtaining Russian citizenship applies to Ukrainian citizens, who have no citizenship of other states, who were born and reside permanently on the territories of the Crimean republic and the city of Sevastopol, those who had left the above mentioned territories before March 18, 2014 and also their children, including adopted children, husbands and wives and parents. The right to get Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure has been also granted to individuals without citizenship, who were born and resided in Crimea, and who had left the peninsula before it rejoined Russia, as well as other persons who were subjected to illegal deportation from the territory of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The process of granting Russian citizenship will be also eased for Ukrainians and persons without citizenship, who have permission for temporary residence in Russia, a residence permit, a refugee identity card, a document on temporary refuge or a document of a participant of a state program on providing assistance to relocating to Russia fellow countrymen living abroad, those who resided in certain areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions of Ukraine in April 2014 and also their children, husbands and wives and parents. Besides, under the decree the right to obtain Russian citizenship in a simplified procedure will be given to the citizens of Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen and Syria, who were born on the territory of the Russian Socialist Federative Socialist Republic and held the Soviet Union’s citizenship. The applications on obtaining Russian citizenship filed by the above mentioned groups of citizens should be considered within three months. On April 24, Putin signed a decree enabling people living in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics to receive Russian citizenship under a simplified procedure. According to the document, the decision has been made "in order to protect human rights and freedoms" based on universally accepted international laws. PYONGYANG, April 27 -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has completed his visit to Russia has his armored train arrived to a rail station in Pyongyang, North Korea’s KCNA news agency reported on Saturday. "Kim Jong Un, chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, chairman of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and supreme commander of the armed forces of the DPRK, returned home by the private train at dawn on Saturday after successfully concluding his visit to the Russian Federation," the agency said. "After getting off the train amid the enthusiastic cheering of the masses, Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un received a greeting report from the head of the guard of honor of the Korean People's Army," it said. Negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un were held on Thursday on Russky Island in Vladivostok. The leaders thoroughly discussed the state and prospects of interstate relations and dwelled on issues linked to the situation on the Korean Peninsula, in particular the denuclearization problem. The Vladivostok summit became the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Kim Jong-un. WASHINGTON, April 26 -- A court in Washington has sentenced Russian national Maria Butina to 18 years in prison, reports from the courtroom. Judge Tanya Chutkan ignored the defense lawyers’ request Butina should be sentenced to a term equal to the period she has already spent in custody. Instead, she sustained the prosecution’s request for sentencing Butina to 18th months. Butina’ caseMaria Butina, 30, was charged with conspiracy for the purpose of conducing activities in favor of a foreign country in the territory of the United States. US secret services claimed Butina indulged in such activity without being registered as a foreign agent at the US Department of Justice. Butina was arrested in Washington on July 15, 2018 ahead of the summit meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Helsinki. Moscow described the charges against Butina as a fake and demanded her release from custody. Butina had arrived in the United States for a course of studies. Last spring she obtained a master’s degree at American University, where she studied international relations. On December 13, Butina faced court in the District of Columbia to plead guilty to one of the charges concerning the foreign agents act. She signed a plea bargain with the prosecutor-general’s office. The date when the sentence might be pronounced was not disclosed at once at the request of the attorney’s office, because the process of Butina’s cooperation with the investigation, it was stated, might take some time. VLADIVOSTOK, April 25 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said opening the Russian-North Korean summit on Thursday he expected Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia to promote settlement on the Korean Peninsula. "I’m convinced that your today’s visit to Russia will contribute to the development of bilateral relations, helps to gain a better understanding of possible ways to settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula, to see what can be done together, what Russia can do to support the processes that are now under way," he said. "Undoubtedly, we welcome your efforts to develop the inter-Korean dialogue and to normalize relations between North Korea and the United States," Putin said during talks with Kim Jong-un in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok. "Of course, a lot remains to be done in bilateral relations, to develop trade and economic ties and humanitarian contacts," the Russian president went on. Putin said he was "very pleased" to see Kim Jong-un in Russia, adding that diplomats from the two nations have started to negotiate on it long ago. He congratulated his North Korean counterpart on being re-elected as the Chairman of the State Affairs Commission. He also noted that last year, the two states marked the 70th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations. "I remember my visit to your country. Your father was one of the authors of the basic treaty - the Treaty on friendship between our nations," Putin said. VLADIVOSTOK, April 24 -- The cortege of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has arrived on Russky Island in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok, as source in the Far Eastern Federal University said. The source familiar with the visit’s preparations said that Kim’s residence would be the university’s building S, known as a sports complex, where the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to be held. The train arrived at the station at 17:50 local time (7:50 a.m. GMT). Primorye Governor Oleg Kozhemyako, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov and Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora welcomed Kim upon his arrival. A military orchestra of the guard of honor greeted Kim at the station square. On April 25, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The sides will discuss peaceful settlement of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and ensuring security in Northeast Asia. Kim and Putin will also discuss different aspects of bilateral relations, including on the political, economic and cultural-humanitarian agenda. Talks in Vladivostok will be the first meeting between Kim and Putin. Russia will be the first country, which Kim visits after being re-elected Chairman of the State Affairs Commission at the first session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly earlier this month. MOSCOW, April 24 -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said that he is happy to visit Russia when he arrived to the Hasan station, the administration of the Primorsky region said on Wednesday. "I am happy to visit Russia," Kim said. Russian Minister for the Far East and the Arctic Alexander Kozlov, who met the North Korean leader in Hasan, expressed hope that this visit will stay with Kim "as a heartwarming memory." "Kim Jong Un said that this is not his last visit to Russia. He said that this is only the first step," the administration said. In Hasan, Kim Jong Un was met by Russian Minister for the Far East and the Arctic Alexander Kozlov, Primorsky region Governor Oleg Kozhemyako, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora. The North Korean leader visited the House of Russian-Korean Friendship, also known as "The House of Kim Il Sung." After leaving the Hasan station, the train headed toward Ussuriysk. The train will reach the city in about seven hours. Then the train will get onto the Trans-Siberian Railway leading to Vladivostok. |
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