Report: Trump Wants List of 'Deliverables' to Offer Putin

Trump and Putin will meet next week in Germany
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 29, 2017 3:45 PM CDT
A Trump-Putin Meeting Is Happening Next Week
President Donald Trump speaks at the Department of Energy in Washington, Thursday, June 29, 2017.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Donald Trump will have his first face-to-face meeting with Vladimir Putin as president during next week's G20 summit in Germany, Politico reports. The meeting—which won't be formal but rather happen "on the sidelines"—was announced by national security adviser HR McMaster on Thursday. He says no "specific agenda" has been set for the meeting. Putin and Trump likely won't have trouble finding things to talk about. Reuters notes the US and Russia are currently at odds over NATO expansion, Russian action in Ukraine, and the Syrian civil war. Not to mention Russia's alleged involvement and collusion in the 2016 presidential election.

Two former officials tell the Guardian that Trump has asked National Security Council staff for "deliverables" he can bring to Putin during their meeting. Such concessions could include returning two diplomatic compounds in the US to Russia or lessening sanctions. It's unclear what the US would get in return for the concessions, and both the NSC and State Department are said to be against giving Putin anything simply to improve relations. "As the president has made clear, he'd like the United States and the entire West to develop a more constructive relationship with Russia, but he has also made clear that we will do what is necessary to confront Russia's destabilizing behavior," Reuters quotes McMaster as saying Thursday. (More Donald Trump stories.)

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