Putin, top Trump aide see hope of better ties in Kremlin talks

Bloomberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US National Security Adviser John Bolton expressed hope they could reverse the downward spiral in relations, meeting in the Kremlin ahead of a possible summit with President Donald Trump.
“Your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can make at least the first steps towards restoring full-scale relations between our countries,” Putin told Bolton. “It’s great to be back in Moscow,” Bolton replied, adding that he hoped to discuss “how to improve Russia-US relations, find the areas where we can agree.”
The warm tone came amid the worst tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals since the Cold War and relentless pressure on Trump over the investigation into alleged Russian involvement in his 2016 presidential victory. Still, Trump has pushed for improving the relationship — inviting Putin to the White House in a March phone call. The Kremlin welcomes the chance to ease its international isolation, especially US and European sanctions, but played down hopes of a breakthrough from the hoped-for summit.
US officials have said the meeting — the third between the two leaders — could take place at the end of Trump’s visit to Europe in mid-July. Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said his Nordic nation is ready to host the summit after Politico reported that the White House is eyeing Helsinki as the preferred option. Bolton discussed details of the planning at a working lunch with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov before he met Putin.
Bolton, who became Trump’s security adviser in March, is a long-time hawk and Kremlin critic. After Trump met Putin at the Group of 20 last summer, Bolton wrote that “it should be a highly salutary lesson about the character of Russia’s leadership to watch Putin lie to him,” and that the talks offered a warning to “negotiate with today’s Russia at your peril.”
But in the Kremlin, his message was different. “Even in earlier days when our countries had differences, our leaders and their advisers met and I think it was good for both countries, good for stability in the world and President Trump feels very strongly on that subject,” he told Putin.
Putin arrived promptly for the session with Bolton. “I hope we will be able to speak today about what might make both sides restore full-scale relations based on equality and respect for each other,” Putin told him.
Reversing the downward spiral in ties that began with Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and escalated with Moscow’s intervention in Syria and the alleged election meddling is likely to be difficult.
To have something to show for the meeting, the two sides may manage to produce some agreement to try and prevent the collapse of decades-old arms control treaties in a bid to halt the downward spiral in ties. Both leaders have spoken publicly of the need to avoid a new nuclear arms race.
Putin and Trump should find it “relatively easy to agree” on steps to resolve accusations that Russia is violating a 1987 treaty that bans the deployment of intermediate-range missiles on land and extend another landmark treaty, New START, said Sergei Karaganov, a former Kremlin foreign policy adviser.