The Kremlin said Wednesday that President Vladimir Putin has no plans to travel to Saudi Arabia, where United States President Donald Trump will be visiting in the coming weeks, and dismissed speculation the two leaders would meet there.Trump and Putin have held at least two phone calls since February but have not met in person, while top officials from both countries have held talks in Saudi Arabia.
On Monday, Trump said that he might visit the Gulf state as early as next month."These are purely the plans of the United States head of state, and are in no way related to Putin," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday."Putin, so far, has no plans like that," Peskov added, saying that there was no concrete date or place for a "possible meeting" between the Kremlin leader and Trump.Trump has sought warmer relations with Russia since taking office in January and has repeatedly said that he hopes to have an in-person meeting with Putin soon.
However, the United States president suggested in recent days that he is growing impatient with Russia's apparent refusal to accept a United States -proposed ceasefire in Ukraine.Last month, the United States held separate talks with Ukrainian and Russian officials in Saudi Arabia, announcing that both had agreed to haltstrikes on energy infrastructure.Since then, Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of violating the agreement with deliberate attacks on energy facilities.