Russia denies 'secret' meeting between Putin, Trump

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA (AA) - The Kremlin on Thursday issued a denial of a “secret” meeting between President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.

The denial followed reports in the U.S. that the two leaders had an unscheduled and undisclosed meeting at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, on July 7.

Russia’s official TASS news agency, cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying the informal talk at a dinner for G20 leaders did not amount to a second, undisclosed meeting.

Earlier in the day, Putin and Trump met for the first time and discussed alleged Russian interference in last year’s U.S. presidential election.

U.S. media earlier this week reported an hour-long dinner meeting and said Trump had left his seat to approach Putin. No other U.S. officials were present and the leaders reportedly used a Kremlin interpreter.

Trump railed against the “dishonest” media that he said was aware of the meeting. “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick.’ All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!” he tweeted Wednesday.

Although the media was aware of the dinner, it was not allowed to observe or given an account of what happened. The meeting was only confirmed by the White House on Tuesday.

TASS reported that the men discussed the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens.

Peskov said there was a “chance” Putin and Trump could meet “at some point” but said no timeframe had been set.