WNAM REPORT: The US administration expects a meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to take place very soon, said Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the US president and senior director for counter terrorism.
“Deals are all about timing. When the time is right, that’s when the president is in the room with Putin, but my expectation is imminently,” he told an international security conference organized by the Politico newspaper.
When asked what he meant by ‘imminently,’ Gorka lashed at the newspaper: “That’s all you’re getting. I detest the Politico. <…> You are not going to get anything more from me than imminently.”
Commenting on whether Trump planned to attend the Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul, the White House official replied: “No, because we need to have all the parties decide. One of the parties is missing, right? There is no point [in Trump’s presence].”
“We need to make sure that there’s no intransigence from all sides involved. But you can rest assured that when the final ink is put on that piece of paper [with agreements on Ukraine], President Trump will be the person, the man behind the art of the deal, who seals that deal,” Gorka said.
Speaking about potential discussions on international recognition of Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea and other territories, he said: “I will not comment. <…> I’m the Senior Director for counterterrorism.”
“We’re kind of exhausted that topic at this point. But I’ll tell you this: we live in the real world. The Trump administration lives in the real world,” the White House official continued. “We recognize the reality on the ground, and we have one priority <…>, whether it’s the Middle East or whether it’s Ukraine, it’s to stop the bloodshed. Everything else comes after the bloodshed has been halted.”
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said, answering to a question on Thursday, that a Putin-Trump meeting was not planned in the coming days.
