Washington D.C.: US President Donald Trump who is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, appeared reluctant to speak about his expectations on his scheduled meeting with his Russian counterpart.
Speaking to reporters before departing for the summit, Trump said. "I'll have a very good conversation with him (Putin)." "What I say to him is none of your business," he added.
This will be Trump's first face-to-face meeting with Putin following the conclusion of Robert Mueller's investigation.
Senior officials from both the White House and the Kremlin confirmed Russia Today that the two leaders will meet in Osaka during the weekend. The duo is likely to discuss arms control issues, US tensions with Iran, the ongoing crisis in Syria and stability in Ukraine.
The President is also expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the weekend in a bid to achieve a deal amid an ongoing trade war between Beijing and Washington.
Trump has frequently said that he enjoys a "great relationship" with Xi, with whom he toured the Forbidden City in Beijing in 2017 and later hosted at Mar-a-Lago, CNN reported.
Trump is "quite comfortable with any outcome of those talks," one US official was quoted as saying this week. "It's really just an opportunity for the President to maintain his engagement," the official added.
Unlike Trump's recent state visits to Tokyo and London, the meetings scheduled on the sidelines of the summit are not about pageantry. Instead, it's a gathering of leaders from the world's largest economies meant to discuss pressing economic and geopolitical issues.
Trump will further be holding talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of G20. The summit, to be held from June 28-29, is centred around the theme "Human-Centred Future Society" and will adopt a declaration.
Besides India, and the host Japan, other participants are the US, UK, European Union, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Russia, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Korea, South Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
