INF Treaty to dominate agenda of Putin-Trump meeting in Paris

The issue of preserving the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty will be on top of the agenda at the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Paris on November 11, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told Channel One on Wednesday.

"I am confident that this topic [US withdrawal from the INF Treaty] will dominate the agenda. We need to understand where the US is going with this issue," Ryabkov said.

There is a clear deficit in dialogue between Moscow and Washington, so contacts between the presidents are "twice as important," Ryabkov said. "We see certain prospects for holding a [Putin-Trump] meeting not only on the sidelines of certain events, but also in the framework of full-format visits," he added. "However, this definitely requires preparatons at different levels," he added. "In particular, the Russian Foreign Ministry has started preparations for the next meeting," Ryabkov said.

On October 23, US National Security Advisor John Bolton met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. After talks, Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said that Putin will meet with US President Donald Trump in Paris on November 11, on the sidelines of commemorative events of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.