Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said that President Vladimir Putin is willing to accept U.S. President Donald Trump’s invitation to meet in Washington.
In an interview with state-operated RIA Novosti news agency, Lavrov said that Putin is “ready for such a meeting.”
“We are guided by the fact that the U.S. President, in a telephone conversation – which is a known fact already, there is no secret – extended such an invitation and said he would be happy to see [Putin] in the White House.”
Lavrov added that Trump returned to the subject of the invitation a couple of times during the phone call with Putin and told him he would be happy to make a reciprocal visit to Russia.
Earlier Trump and Putin agreed on a possible summit in Washington.
Trump telephoned Putin on March 20 to congratulate him on winning the Russian presidential election two days earlier.
The White House and the Kremlin said at the time the two presidents discussed the possibility of meeting in person.