Trump-Putin summit should proceed: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Trump-Putin summit should proceed: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Washington, July 15: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the summit between President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin should proceed even as the political fallout continues over the indictments of 12 Russian military intelligence officers. Despite calls by top Democrats in Congress for Trump to cancel the meeting scheduled to take place in Finland today, Pompeo told reporters: “I think it’s very important that they meet,” CNN reported late Saturday. “I am confident that President Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin will put America in a better place,” Pompeo said.

Trump plans to meet one-on-one with Putin at the start of their first formal summit talks in Helsinki, Finland, before allowing other aides to participate. “Putin is a trained KGB intelligence veteran who will come to this meeting well-prepared,” they wrote. The letter was signed by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was among those who on Friday called on Trump to cancel the summit, and the top Democrats on the Senate Intelligence, Armed Services, Foreign Relations and other national security-related committees, CNN reported.

The senators also demanded that Trump press for the extradition of the 12 Russian military intelligence officials who were indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller on Friday for hacking into Democrats’ emails during the 2016 presidential campaign. In a tweet on Saturday morning, Trump did not criticise Putin or condemn Russia’s actions and blamed former President Barack Obama’s administration’s soft-pedaled actions over Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. (IANS)

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