US President-elect reported to be planning to meet Russian counterpart in Reykjavik shortly after becoming assuming office.
Donald Trump’s first foreign trip is to be to Iceland for a summit with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, according to reports.
In a move that echoes Ronald Reagan’s cold war meeting in Reykjavik with Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, Trump and his team have reportedly told British officials that the summit will take place within weeks of him becoming US president.
The Icelandic capital is thought to be the most likely place host the talks as it did three decades ago, according to the Sunday Times.
The summit would be an attempt to rest reset western relations with the Kremlin, with the agenda thought to include a deal limiting nuclear weapons.
The Guardian reports that the news comes as Trump continues to face claims that Russia holds material which could be used to blackmail him.
On Saturday the president-elect said he would consider dropping sanctions against Russia if Moscow helped tackle terrorism and worked with the US on other goals, although they would remain in place “at least for a period of time.”
He also said he was willing to meet Putin. “I understand that they would like to meet, and that’s absolutely fine with me,” he said.
A source who discussed the plan with Trump and officials at the Russian embassy in London told the Times: “The idea of a summit with Putin is definitely on the cards. The Russians are also keen on it.”
A Trump adviser confirmed the president-elect’s intention to meet Putin very soon and said that Reykjavik was under active consideration, according to The Guardian.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for President Putin however refuted the claims on Sunday, telling Russian journalists there had been no talks yet about a possible meeting between the Russian President and Trump.
“There have not been talks about a meeting yet,” the Kremlin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA news agency.
Independent says reports that Mr. Trump is to hold talks with the Russian President so imminently are said to have concerned senior figures in the UK Government, who fear that improving relations between the US and Russia could risk isolating Britain from important talks on the world stage.
