Trump invited Putin to US during phone call: Moscow

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – US President Donald Trump invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Washington DC during a phone call, RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing a top Russian official.

The Russian news agency quoted Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying Trump returned to the subject of inviting Putin a couple of times during a call last month, stating Moscow now expects a formal invitation from Washington DC.

“We proceed from the fact that the US president in a telephone conversation...made such an invitation, said he would be glad to see (Putin) in the White House, would then be glad to meet on a reciprocal visit,” said Lavrov, according to a transcript of an interview with RIA on the Foreign Ministry website.

“He returned to this topic a couple of times, so we let our American colleagues know that we do not want to impose, but we also do not want to be impolite and that considering that President Trump made this proposal, we proceed from the position that he will make it concrete,” Lavrov said.

Putin’s visit to the White House could raise some eyebrows in the country, who accuse Moscow of hostile acts against Western nations, including the US.

“I would simply turn your attention to the fact that Donald Trump after this phone conversation has said several times in both Tweets and in words that it is necessary to resolve issues with Russia, that they want to have good relations with Russia. They believe this is better than not having good relations, and that only a fool would think otherwise,” the Russian official quoted the US president as saying. “We also hear this.”

Both Trump and Putin spoke in a telephone on March 20.

Editing by Nadia Riva