No bilateral Putin-Trump meeting at APEC due to ‘scheduling conflicts’
Contrary to previous reports that a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would take place at the sidelines of the APEC summit, the White House has announced that there will be no official talks between the two leaders.
On Thursday, Russian presidential aide for international affairs Yury Ushakov told media that the leaders are scheduled to meet at the APEC summit on Friday.
However, just hours ahead of the summit the White House said that Putin and Trump’s meeting will not happen because of scheduling conflicts.
“Regarding a Putin meeting, there was never a meeting confirmed, and there will not be one due to scheduling conflicts on both sides,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters.
While the presidents could possibly “bump into each other and say hello,” a scheduled formal meeting is “not one on the calendar and we don't anticipate that there will be one,” she said.
After the White House announced that the leaders would not have an official meeting, the Kremlin sent a conflicting message saying that it was still being negotiated.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media on Friday that the US side was providing “controversial information” and stressed that “one way or another they [Putin and Trump] will meet on the sidelines.”
