Trump invites President Putin to White House

Washington(ANN)-US President Donald Trump has invited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during a phone conversation for a meeting at the White House.

Citing the Russian Foreign Ministry, Russian media RIA Novosti said on Friday that Trump extended the invitation during a phone call with Putin.

“We proceed from the fact that the US president in a telephone conversation…made such an invitation, said he would be glad to see (Putin) in the White House, would then be glad to meet on a reciprocal visit,” said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, according to the foreign ministry website.

The US president has told the Russian leader that he would be happy to make a reciprocal visit.

“He returned to this topic a couple of times, so we let our American colleagues know that we do not want to impose, but we also do not want to be impolite, and that considering that President Trump made this proposal, we proceed from the position that he will make it concrete,” Lavrov added.

The first ever face-to-face encounter between the two took place ahead of their formal meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Germany in July last year.

“I would simply turn your attention to the fact that Donald Trump after this phone conversation has said several times in both Tweets and in words that it is necessary to resolve issues with Russia, we want to have good relations with Russia, this is better than not having good relations, and that only a fool thinks otherwise,” Lavrov said. “We also hear this.”

Washington and Moscow are engaged in political disputes. These include a row over the poisoning of a former Russian double spy in the UK, the Syria crisis and NATO’s expansionist policies.

On April 14, the United States, France and the United Kingdom carried out a missile attack on a number of targets in Syria in response to a suspected chemical attack in Douma that reportedly took place on April 7. Syria has rejected any role in the alleged attack, which is yet to be investigated.