President Putin: Russia-US relations are getting worse

Commenting on the Russia-US relationship, President Putin said: "The relationship is deteriorating and getting worse. I believe that over the years, the US administration has made dozens of decisions related to sanctions against Russia," Putin added.

Speaking to reporters on June 12, President Trump said he “will meet with Mr. Putin at the G20 Summit” in Osaka, Japan later this month. The US leader even joked with reporters asking if they would like to go into the meeting room with him and President Putin, because the US press is often skeptical about Trump-Putin meetings.

However, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday that Russia has not yet received any request from the US to prepare for a meeting between the two leaders. Earlier, Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to President Putin, also told reporters that a meeting between the two Russian and US leaders at the G20 has not yet been decided.

Over the past five years, the US has imposed numerous rounds of sanctions on Russia in retaliation for a series of accusations such as interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs, interfering in the US presidential election, using chemical agents to attack former Russian spies in the UK, and capturing Ukrainian ships and sailors in the Kerch Strait incident. Moscow has repeatedly denied these accusations and has taken appropriate countermeasures against the US and Washington's Western allies.