Agreement on a summit meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump inspires some hope but one should not harbor any illusions as regards a possibility of immediate results from it, Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of international relations committee in the upper house of Russian parliament said on Thursday, TASS reported/
Earlier on the same day, reports said Putin and Trump would meet in Helsinki on July 16.
"We must use the phrase ‘as reported’ because you can never be sure of anything when it comes to a president like Donald Trump," Kosachev said.
Given the current situation, however, even the very fact of consensus on the place and date for the meeting is a token of progress, he indicated.
"Our relations with the US have sunk so low that we can only try and rebound from the bottom," Kosachev said. "Breaking through it would mean an armed conflict, which means mutually guaranteed destruction for the two nuclear powers."
"That’s why the very fact of agreement on a summit and the start of preparations for it inspires hope, beyond any doubt," he said. "But of course there should be no illusions as regards the possible results."
"Still it’s important to understand that even coming to terms on a meeting already means it will be useful and fruitful because neither Putin nor Trump are adepts of meetings for the sake of meetings," Kosachev said.