Trump says he’s ‘probably not’ meeting with Putin in Paris next week

President Trump said Monday that he would “probably not” meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week during the Armistice Day celebrations in Paris, despite a previous announcement by national security adviser John Bolton that the two leaders would hold a meeting.

However, Trump said that he would meet with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Argentina that begins in late November, reiterating his belief that improving U.S. relations with Moscow would be a “good thing.”

{mosads}“We haven’t set anything up yet. We don’t know that that’s going to be the right place. I’m going to be in Paris for other reasons, but we will be meeting at the G-20 and probably will have meetings after that,” Trump told reporters before boarding Air Force One to travel to Cleveland for a political rally a day before the midterm elections.

“Getting along with Russia, China and all of them would be a good thing – I’ve said it for a long time,” he added. “So, we’ll have plenty of meetings, but I’m not sure that we’ll have a meeting in Paris, probably not.”

Bolton said last month that the White House would make plans for Trump and Putin to meet on Nov. 11 in Paris, which coincides with the commemoration of the signing of the armistice that ended World War I. Trump was already scheduled to travel to Paris to attend the celebrations. Bolton later said Putin had also been invited to Washington early next year.

The G-20 leaders summit will take place in Argentina on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1. That meeting between Trump and Putin will be their first face-to-face since the controversial Helsinki summit in July, after which Trump was criticized for his friendly behavior toward Putin and for casting doubt on the U.S. intelligence community assessment of Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump later walked back the statements, saying he misspoke.

At their next meeting, the leaders are expected to discuss a host of issues, including Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty, a decades-old nuclear arms pact with Russia.