Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for cooperation with the United States but it is too early to speak about Washington’s readiness for that, Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Friday, Trend reports citing TASS.
"The sides declared the readiness to discuss the most burning problems. Will this declared intention be realized? Let us wait and see. I am confident that on the Russian part, namely on the part of President Putin, these declarations of readiness are backed by actual possibilities, actual readiness. But what about the American side, let us wait and see," he said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 television channel.
Along with trade-and-economic cooperation, the two leaders discussed "a lot of other matters," Peskov said. "We have not forgotten about the Russian diplomatic property, we have not forgotten about our citizens kept in US prisons, illegally from our point of view. Our American partners also have questions to us," he noted.
He said he did not share the point of view that Putin and Trump had only exchanged claims at their meeting in Osaka. "I would not put it this way. They rather outlined problems of mutual interest. They spoke about Iran, Syria, Ukraine. President Trump asked about the Ukrainian military mariners. They spoke about other regional problems, they spoke about international trade. They also mentioned the necessity to begin expert-level talks on disarmament and strategic stability," Peskov said, adding that these topics required a comprehensive approach and time to discuss. "The willingness to do it was expressed today. So, let us wait and see what becomes of it," he added.