MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to hold a summit in a third country with Donald Trump at talks on Wednesday with the US leader’s hawkish national security adviser, voicing hope for an easing of tensions between the two nations.
Speaking after Putin’s meeting with John Bolton in Moscow, the Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide said the two presidents would meet at a place and time that will be announced on Thursday.
“Your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can at least take the first step to reviving full-blown ties between our states,” Putin told Bolton at the Kremlin after the two smiled and shook hands for the cameras.
“We never sought confrontation,” Putin said, adding he regretted that the Russia-US ties were not “on top form.”
Bolton, who is famous for his hawkish reputation and tough stance on Moscow, said it was important to keep talking and complimented Putin on his handling of the football World Cup, currently taking place in Russia.
“Even in earlier days when our countries had differences our leaders and their advisers met and I think that was good for both countries, good for stability in the world and President Trump feels very strongly on that subject,” he said.
“We are most appreciative of your courtesy and graciousness here and I look forward to learning how you handle the World Cup so successfully, among other things,” said Bolton.
The United States will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Mexico and Canada, and Putin said he was happy to share with Washington his experience of hosting the world’s biggest sporting event.
Putin’s foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said the two sides have “agreed on the time and the place of the meeting” but details would be unveiled Thursday, Russian news agencies reported.
Ushakov said the two presidents would focus on relations between their two countries, Syria and nuclear arms control and could adopt a joint statement to help improve ties as well as global security.
He added that Putin and Bolton did not discuss US sanctions against Russia.
US-Russian relations have suffered from years of disagreement over the Syrian conflict, Russia’s annexation of Crimea and its involvement in eastern Ukraine.
More recently ties have been strained by a probe into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election and suspected collusion with the Trump campaign, as well as by the poisoning of a former Russian spy in Britain.
But since coming to power last year, Trump has sought to improve relations with Putin amid tensions between Moscow and the West.
Trump said this month that Russia should be re-admitted to the G7 group of industrialized democracies, from which it was suspended for its annexation of Crimea in 2014.
That comment came at a summit which ended in sharp disagreement between Trump and his G7 allies.
The last, brief meeting between Putin and Trump took place in November 2017 in Vietnam during an APEC summit.
Trump is due to participate in the July 11-12 NATO summit in Brussels before heading to Britain to meet with Prime Minister Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II on July 13.
Putin and Trump discussed holding a summit when the US leader congratulated the Russian president on his re-election in March, reportedly ignoring advice from his advisers.
Moscow said Trump had invited Putin for a summit at the White House but the focus has since shifted to a possible meeting on neutral ground.
US-based news website Politico reported this week that the two leaders could meet in the Finnish capital Helsinki.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Helsinki is “always ready to offer its good services if asked.” He did not provide further details.
Kremlin-connected analyst Fyodor Lukyanov said the summit would be a milestone of sorts given the dismal state of ties but stressed that any breakthroughs would be unlikely.
“The question is about finding some new approaches because the old ones no longer work,” he told AFP.
Putin is unlikely to make any major concessions on the Ukraine crisis or other sensitive issues, giving Washington little incentive to review its sanctions, observers say.
“A Trump-Putin meeting would temporarily ease US-Russia tensions, but new US sanctions are still likely later this year,” said the Eurasia Group think tank.
Earlier Wednesday Bolton met behind closed doors with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the first deputy head of Russia’s security council, Yury Averyanov.
US, Russia agree to Putin-Trump summit in third country
US, Russia agree to Putin-Trump summit in third country
- The Kremlin’s top foreign policy aide said the two presidents would meet at a place and time that will be announced on Thursday
- US-Russian relations have suffered from years of disagreement over Syria, Crimea and Ukraine
Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician takes early lead in key polls
- The polls are one of the most hotly contested elections in the Himalayan republic of 30 million people since the end of a civil war in 2006
Nepal’s centrist party of rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah took an early lead in the high-stakes parliamentary election on Friday, as slow counting continued after the first polls since last year’s deadly uprising.
But despite Shah’s party loyalists dancing on the streets of Katmandu in celebration — the numbers of votes counted remain too low to be confident that it will translate into concrete wins.
By Friday afternoon, 24 hours after polls closed, early trends issued by the Election Commission put Shah’s Rastriya Swatantra Party ahead.
HIGHLIGHT
Alongside Shah, key figures vying for power include Marxist leader KP Sharma Oli, four-time prime minister who was ousted by the September 2025 anti-corruption protests, and the newly elected leader of the Nepali Congress party, Gagan Thapa.
Alongside Shah, key figures vying for power include Marxist leader KP Sharma Oli, four-time prime minister who was ousted by the September 2025 anti-corruption protests, and the newly elected leader of the Nepali Congress party, Gagan Thapa.
At 5:00 p.m. (1115 GMT), RSP was leading in more than half of the 165 constituencies.
But there were only two declared results, and RSP had been confirmed only in one, the same as Nepali Congress.
Prakash Nyupane, a spokesman for the Election Commission, said that counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner” across the Himalayan nation, from snowbound high-altitude mountain regions to the hot plains bordering India.
Voters have chosen who replaces the interim government in place since the September 2025 uprising, in which at least 77 people were killed, and parliament and scores of government buildings were torched.
Youth-led protests under a loose Gen Z banner began as a demonstration against a brief social media ban, but were fed by wider grievances at corruption and a woeful economy.
Kunda Dixit, publisher of the weekly Nepali Times, told AFP that if trends did reflect final wins, the political shift was dramatic.
“This is even a bigger upset than we expected — it underscores the level of public disenchantment with the old parties for under-performance, as well as anger over the events of September,” he said.
‘Fate of the country’
The polls are one of the most hotly contested elections in the Himalayan republic of 30 million people since the end of a civil war in 2006.
All eyes are watching the results in the key head-to-head battleground constituency of Jhapa-5, a usually sleepy eastern district, where 35-year-old Shah challenged directly the veteran Oli, aged 74.
Shah, better known as Balen, snappily dressed in a black suit and sunglasses, has cast himself as a symbol of youth-driven political change.
At 5 p.m. local time, at 10 percent of the votes counted in Jhapa-5, Shah was ahead by nearly five times as many votes as Oli.
Soldiers with armored trucks manned barbed wire barricades around the counting center in Jhapa.
“I hope this result changes the fate of the country for the better,” Bhagawati Adhikari, 38, told AFP, who was among a crowd of dozens at Jhapa gathered outside the security cordon.
“The country should be peaceful and secure, youth should get opportunities, corruption should stop — that’s my appeal.”
’Rest peacefully’
More than 3,400 candidates ran for 165 seats in direct elections to the 275-member House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, with 110 more chosen via party lists. Turnout was 59 percent.
Full nationwide tallies could take several days.
Dixit raised the possibility that Shah’s RSP could stage a dramatic win.
“If RSP hits the magic 138 seats, Balen will become prime minister — and hopefully a cabinet of technocrats,” added Dixit.
Sushila Karki, the interim prime minister, praised the peaceful conduct of a vote she has said was critical in “determining our future.”
Karki, a 73-year-old former chief justice who reluctantly left retirement to lead the nation, now faces the challenge of managing the reaction to results.
The election saw a wave of younger candidates promising to tackle Nepal’s dismal economy, challenging veteran politicians who have dominated for decades and argue that their experience guarantees stability and security.
In Jhapa, 68-year-old shopkeeper Ved Prasad Mainali sat listening to a radio.
