...President-for-Life of Russia. He gets along well with other presidents for life. He is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substance. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to him. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead from poisoning by polonium or other interesting substances...and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.
“In this particular case, either Kommersant’s or Bloomberg’s sources failed them. That’s what I can answer,” he said when asked to confirm information provided by some sources who said that agreements on the withdrawal of the Iran-backed forces from Syria could be the key issue at the upcoming meeting between the Russian and US leaders.
The Kremlin spokesman noted though “that the Syrian issue will be a topic to exchange views on.” “That’s certainly easy to foretell. At any rate, the Russian side is getting ready, and Putin is prepared to discuss the topic of Syria. However, when reports that two countries are discussing a third country and are making some decisions for it – that’s highly unrealistic,” Peskov said. “That’s why these reports are not true.”
Speaking about the upcoming Russian-US summit, the Kremlin spokesman noted that “preparations are underway.”
“The bulk of the work is being done by the Foreign Ministry and other agencies, which potentially have something to do with those issues, which will be on the agenda,” he said, expecting that the two leaders will conduct a news conference after their meeting.
According to Peskov, “the mere fact that President Putin and [President] Trump are ready for this meeting and are gearing up for it is a positive sign.”
“Given the dire state of our bilateral relations, any meeting like this is of unique significance and plays a special role,” he stressed.