Putin: North Korea points to need for US-Russia summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that the the canceled meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un highlights the need for a U.S.–Russia summit. 

Putin cited the North Korean nuclear program and international tensions over the U.S. exiting the Iran nuclear deal as good reasons for an in-person meet with Trump, but said “many problems” are currently keeping that from happening.  

“We are ready for dialogue with Trump,” Putin said at an economic forum in St. Petersberg alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, according to Reuters. “[But] for now it’s not working out. Many problems are arising.”

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During his remarks a day earlier at the same conference, Putin expressed dismay at Trump’s decision to cancel the planned meeting with Kim over North Korea’s “open hostility” toward denuclearization and U.S. officials. 

“We had very much counted on it being a significant step in sorting out the situation on the Korean Peninsula and that it would be the beginning of the process of denuclearizing the whole Korean Peninsula,” Putin said.  

Trump had previously invited Putin to the White House last month, though the plans were besieged by renewed tensions between the West and Russia over the poisoning attack against a former Russian spy on British soil.