President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday night during a dinner with world leaders at the G20 in Argentina.
“As is typical at multilateral events, President Trump and the First Lady had a number of informal conversations with world leaders at the dinner last night, including President Putin,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
POLITICO reports “the discussion comes after the Kremlin and the White House publicly sparred over whether the two leaders would meet, with Moscow insisting they would have an “impromptu” conversation and Washington countering that nothing was scheduled.
According to Putin’s remarks to reporters, as reported by Bloomberg, the two leaders discussed Russia’s confrontation with Ukrainian ships in the Kerch straight. They were unable to discuss at length issues including North Korea, Syria, arms control and trade, Putin said.
Trump scrubbed a previously scheduled meeting, citing Russia’s naval confrontation with Ukraine.
Asked if Trump was wary of meeting him, Putin replied: “I don’t think President Trump is wary of anything. He is a man of character, a very experienced man. He is a grown-up.”
