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Foreign affairs

Putin says he is ready to talk to Trump about avoiding an arms race

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday he is ready for a face-to-face meeting with President Trump in the near future. Trump has suggested a summit several times, most recently in a call between the two leaders about the risk of a new arms race.

"The U.S. president has repeatedly said that it's reasonable to hold such a meeting," Putin said while attending a conference in China. "As soon as the U.S. side is ready, the meeting will take place, depending, of course, on my working schedule." He proposed Austria as a possible location.

This overture comes after Trump ruffled feathers at the weekend's G7 summit in Canada by repeatedly suggesting, once on Friday and once at a press conference Saturday, that Russia be added back to the group to make it again the G8.