Putin to attend 2018 World Cup final

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who plans to attend a football match between France and Belgium Tuesday, the Kremlin said Monday. The Senate report reaffirms that the US election was the target of a Russian operation directed by Putin.

Her comments come just weeks after Trump charged that America is “the piggy bank that (NATO) likes to take from”, and “we like to help out, but it helps them, they’re in Europe”.

European activists are protesting US President Donald Trump’s upcoming appearance at North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, marching through Belgium’s capital to plead for less military spending and more public money for schools and clean energy. The mere fact of a Trump-Putin meeting on 16 July has prompted speculation as to a possible shift in United States policies towards Russian Federation, and that something concrete will sooner or later result. He told Reuters past year, “if countries are going to have nukes, we’re going to be at the top of the pack”. For Putin, the end of the games meant that he was less constrained and able to take overt action. An arms race would be risky and expensive for both sides.

The intelligence community’s assessment declared: “We assess with high confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the USA presidential election, the consistent goals of which were to undermine public faith in the United States democratic process, denigrate Secretary [Hillary] Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency”. While a 2017 law bars Trump from easing many sanctions without Congress’ approval, he can offer some relief without a nod from Congress.

After his first meeting with Mr Putin a year ago, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Mr Trump had accepted Mr Putin’s denial that Russia was involved in the hacking and disinformation attempt.

“Heroes. Heroism. Just like the recent secret hero Kiriyenko, who built the Russian default in 1998”, I remember Sergei Kiriyenko, the former Prime Minister and current Deputy head of Putin’s administration, which not long ago was given the title of “Hero of the Russian Federation”.

“I really want to know what exactly is so important that Donald Trump needs to talk to Vladimir Putin without any other Americans in the room”, he said.

Asked whether Trump shared his sharper perspective, Huntsman said, “The president will drive the discussion on malign activity and election meddling”. Only this will remove Putin’s boot from the neck of freedom and mark the coming summit as a true turning point in world events.

But as Democratic members raise concerns, Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies advises they look “beyond tweets to the actual text of the new U.S”. At issue is the territorial sovereignty of Ukraine, following Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. He would remind Putin that the bulk of existing worldwide sanctions on Russian Federation are because of the Kremlin’s military invasions and occupations.

On Putin’s wish list: an end to USA military exercises in Europe and the scaling back of US forces there.

U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison, left, and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis arrive for a meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels last month.

Washington has stood by Ukraine’s pro-Western leaders in their stand-off with Russian Federation.

The president would also validate Moscow’s concerns about the military balance between Russian Federation and the United States, and about increasing Chinese strategic nuclear forces. Helsinki would be a triumph for Putin if he persuaded Trump to drop that military aid.