INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Vladimir Putin has said that a meeting with Donald Trump could be "useful" (File)Moscow: Russian President
Vladimir Putin discussed during a visit to Austria this week the possibility of Vienna playing host to a summit with his US counterpart
Donald Trump, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday."It was mentioned that Vienna could be such a city" Peskov was quoted as saying
by the RIA Novosti state news agency after being asked if Putin discussed whether the city could hold such a meeting when he met with
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Tuesday.Peskov's comments come a day after Trump called for Russia to be readmitted to the group of
the world's leading nations, known as the G7, a step that would end Russia's international isolation over its 2014 annexation of Crimea from
Ukraine.Speaking from China where Putin was attending a regional security summit, Peskov said that in their last telephone conversation on
March 20 the Russian and US leaders had also mentioned possibly meeting in Vienna."You know, the two presidents discussed the necessity of
holding such a meeting in their last telephone call
Including that Vienna could be such a city" for the summit, said Peskov.He added, however, that no concrete agreements have been reached and
no concrete discussions were underway.Under the conservative Kurz, Austria has strived to act as a mediator between Russia and the
West.While the EU-state imposed sanctions on Russia over Crimea along with the rest of the bloc, Austria did not expel Russian diplomats
like other Western nations following the March poisoning of a Russian former double agent and his daughter in Britain, an attack London has
accused Moscow of being behind."We have continued our cooperation even during difficult times," Kurz said after his talks with Putin on
Tuesday.Putin said in a Russian television interview that a meeting with Trump would be "useful.""Dialogue may prove to be constructive," he
said in the interview, the full version of which was released on Saturday.He added that Russia was ready to "develop, deepen and normalise
ties with the United States," noting that the next move was for Washington to make.Putin indicated that he did not like "a lot" of the US
authorities' decisions but praised Trump for his consistency."Trump fulfils his pre-election promises," he said.(Except for the headline,
this story has not been edited by TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
