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Trump and Putin to meet at G-20 summit in Hamburg next week

Source: CBC News::
June 29, 2017 at 15:06
McMaster and economic adviser Gary Cohn wouldn't say whether the president intends to address accusations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election

U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin will hold a high-stakes meeting when they attend the G-20 summit in Germany next week, the White House said Thursday.

National security adviser H.R. McMaster confirmed that the meeting is one of several Trump has scheduled when he is in Hamburg next week.

McMaster and economic adviser Gary Cohn wouldn't say whether the president intends to address accusations that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, saying that the agenda is "not finalized" for this or any other meeting.

All 17 U.S. intelligence agencies have agreed Russia was behind last year's hack of Democratic email systems and tried to influence the 2016 election to benefit Trump. Members of his campaign are also under investigation for possible collusion with Russia in the lead-up to the election. Trump has staunchly denied that he had any contacts with Russia during his White House bid.

"Our relationship with Russia is not different from that with any other country in terms of us communicating to them really what our concerns are, where we see problems with the relationship but also opportunities," McMaster said.

Cars pass a billboard showing Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, placed by a pro-Serbian movement in the town of Danilovgrad, Montenegro, on Nov. 16, 2016. (Savo Prelevic/AFP/Getty Images)
Cars pass a billboard showing Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, placed by a pro-Serbian movement in the town of Danilovgrad, Montenegro, on Nov. 16, 2016. (Savo Prelevic/AFP/Getty Images)

He added that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is taking the lead on the discussions and "has been engaged in a broad, wide-range discussion about irritants, problems in the relationship but also to explore opportunities, where we can work together, areas of common interest. So it won't be different from our discussions with any other country."

McMaster added that Trump also plans to meet with the leaders of several other countries — among them, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, and South Korea.

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