No preconditions for Russia-U.S. summit at this point - Peskov

MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - There are no preconditions for a new meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President of the United States Donald Trump yet, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

"The Ukrainians do not want a negotiating process. This unwillingness of theirs is in every way encouraged by the Europeans, the European Union. We see that the EU is really having this military temper tantrum. This is what caused this very pause," Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said in a fragment of an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin for the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin television program on the Rossiya 1 (VGTRK) TV channel published on the Vesti (VGTRK) TV channel's Telegram account.

"And during the pause, of course, let's say, Trump understands that there are currently no reasons to believe that any progress could be made in the peaceful settlement in the near future," he said.

It would be wrong to say the Russia-United States summit was cancelled, Peskov said.

"Of course, firstly, not everyone wants this summit to happen. Secondly, let us ultimately recall that there was no clear agreement about any dates of this summit. There is an understanding that it would be good to meet without delaying it. Perhaps, in Budapest. Therefore, frankly speaking, it would perhaps be wrong to say the specific summit itself was cancelled," Peskov said.

"The presidents cannot meet for the sake of meeting, they cannot waste their time like this, and they openly say so. This is why they instructed Lavrov and Rubio to prepare this process. The process is difficult. And a large homework really needs to be done before laying down the foundation for a new summit of such kind," he said.

Putin expressed solidarity with Trump who had realized there is currently no point in holding the summit, he said.

"The understanding that there is currently no point in holding it emerged, primarily, Trump realized it. But President Putin expressed solidarity with him in his statements," Peskov said.

Peskov also said that the sanctions imposed by the United States on Lukoil and Rosneft became an unfriendly step in relation to Russia and inflicted damage on prospects of the reanimation of bilateral relations, but it does not mean that Russia will abandon these inspirations.

"Despite various nuances voiced by the U.S. president, we ultimately must focus on our interests. And our interests are establishing good relations with all countries, including the U.S. Of course, the actions taken this week, they were an unfriendly step," Peskov said.

"They have indeed damaged the prospects of reanimating our relations. But it does not mean that we must abandon these aspirations. We must do what is beneficial for us," he said.