US President Donald Trump invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to visit the United States during a telephone conversation and said he would be happy to see Mr Putin at the White House, according to a report by RIA Novosti on Friday. cited by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
According to the Reuters news agency, the news agency quoted Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying that Mr. Trump had raised the issue of an invitation twice during a telephone conversation last year.
"We are moving forward given that the US President in a telephone conversation ... addressed such an invitation, he said that he would be happy to see him (Putin) in the White House, he would also be happy to have a meeting on a subsequent visit," Lavrov said. according to the text of an interview with RIA on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"He came back to the issue twice, so we informed our American colleagues that we do not want to be a burden, we also do not want to be rude, and that since President Trump made his proposal, we will move from the position that he will make it concrete."
A Putin reception at the White House would provoke the anger of Trump critics at home, who accuse Russia of hostile acts against Western countries, including the United States.
"I just draw your attention to the fact that Donald Trump, after his telephone conversation, has said several times on tweets and in verbal statements that it is necessary to resolve issues with Russia, we want to have good relations with Russia, that is better. "from not having a good relationship and that only someone crazy would think differently," Lavrov said.
"We hear that too," he added.
The Trump-Putin telephone conversation took place on March 20.