What will President Trump and Putin say to each other at APEC?

It is likely that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Putin will have a meeting taking place at the APEC Summit in Da Nang.

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On November 9, Russia and the United States repeatedly "hinted" at the possibility of a one-on-one meeting between US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines.APEC Summittook place in Vietnam.

To meet or not to meet

Kremlin adviser Yury Ushakov told multiple Russian news agencies that a meeting “will take place on November 10” but said the specific timing and format were still being discussed.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said plans for formal talks were still being discussed, but added that the two leaders would have “plenty of opportunities to talk” on the sidelines of the APEC summit to “exchange views on the most pressing issues of bilateral and international relations.”

The US and Russian presidents shook hands during their first official meeting in Germany in July. Photo: Reuters.

“Both Trump and Putin will be at the APEC summit, so they will meet one way or another.” As for the content of the dialogue, “there is no agreed agenda yet,” Peskov said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said the question was whether the two leaders had enough to talk about to warrant a formal meeting.

“There is no agreement on a formal bilateral meeting,” Mr Tillerson told the Independent in Beijing. “The question is do we have enough substance for a formal meeting. The two sides have been in contact and the general view is that the two leaders will meet if there is substantial substance to discuss.”

However, Mr. Tillerson said it would not be strange if the Russian and US leaders had an "impromptu" meeting when they happened to meet each other on the sidelines of the conference.

“But if we are going to have a formal meeting, it should at least be a meaningful meeting,” he said, referring to the situations in Syria and Ukraine.

Syria and Ukraine – Permanent bottlenecks

The rift between the US and Russia over the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine has persisted for many years.

In Syria, US- and Russian-led forces are stepping up their fight against IS, and both sides have frequently criticized each other for firing at each other. So far, direct confrontation has not broken out thanks to a hotline between the two sides, but this hotline has been suspended by Russia several times due to the conflict between Russia and the US over the Syria issue.

On November 7, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said the two countries are in "intensive" contact regarding the situation in Syria as the fight against terrorism in Syrian territory is "almost completed".

The presence of US and Russian forces in Syria always comes with the risk of confrontation. Photo: AP.

However, this opens up the risk of a new chapter of confrontation related to the political process in Syria when Moscow and Washington firmly choose to stand on two opposing sides on the issue of the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government in the political transition process in Syria.

Most recently, Russia's Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Vladimir Safronkov criticized the UN Security Council's conclusion of the UN Joint Commission of Inquiry into the use of chemical weapons in Syria. Mr. Safronkov said that the committee's conclusion that the Assad regime was responsible for the April attack in Khan Sheikhun was "extremely disappointing" and accused Western countries of influencing the investigation.

The US, UK and France meanwhile welcomed the investigation results.

Compared to Syria, the situation in eastern Ukraine is more peaceful, although the Minsk Agreement, the most successful international effort to date, has not achieved a breakthrough. No large-scale fighting has broken out, although small-scale gunfire continues daily.

President Trump has been cautious in his statements about the situation in Ukraine so far. However, on September 19, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said that the US Senate had approved $500 million in security and defense aid for Ukraine. He also shared that the US could provide lethal weapons to Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry immediately announced that it was considering countermeasures in case the US provided lethal weapons to Ukraine.

Winning support on the North Korea issue

For the head of the White House, North Korea is the top concern. The effort to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula has dominated three of the five stops on Mr. Trump's Asia tour: Japan, South Korea and China.

In Beijing, he called on both China and Russia to act quickly to resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. “I also call on Russia to join in restraining the current situation that is on the verge of a catastrophic development,” he said.

Mr Trump’s efforts to rein in North Korea have so far focused less on engaging Moscow than on its neighbours such as South Korea, Japan and China, although the two leaders have discussed the issue before.

After China, Mr. Trump wants to continue to attract Russia's support on the North Korea issue. Photo: AFP.

However, that could change if the two leaders meet on November 10. On November 5, Mr. Trump said he “expects to meet with Mr. Putin” to discuss the situation in North Korea. “We want Putin’s help with North Korea,” the US president told reporters on his flight to Tokyo.

Speaking to CNN in Tokyo, an anonymous senior White House official revealed that North Korea will be a “major topic of conversation” when Trump and Putin meet in Vietnam.

“Russia has a border with North Korea,” the official said. “I believe they are also very concerned about the current crisis and it is only natural that Russia would play a role in this situation.”

Dark Shadows Interfere in Elections

Compared to the first meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Germany in July, new tensions have appeared in Russia-US bilateral relations.

In August, Mr Trump signed into law new sanctions against Russia, a move that Moscow said ended hopes for better relations. Mr Putin then ordered Washington to cut its embassy and consulate staff in Russia by more than half.

The investigation into alleged Russian interference in the US election has entered a dangerous phase and will cast a shadow over the Trump-Putin meeting. Photo: CNN.

Any meeting between the two leaders this week will be overshadowed by the investigation into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election, which has entered a new and arguably more dangerous phase for the US administration.

Last week, special prosecutor Robert Mueller released a series of charges against two former members of President Donald Trump's election team, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. The two were charged with 12 crimes ranging from money laundering to conspiracy against the United States... and were ordered under house arrest by a US federal judge.

Mr. Mueller's office also said George Papadopolous, who joined Mr. Trump's campaign team in March 2016 and is a former foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump, admitted to lying to FBI agents about contacts with several individuals to arrange a meeting between Mr. Trump, then the Republican presidential candidate, and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to Kienthuc.net.vn