MOSCOW (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump told President Vladimir Putin in a phone call on Monday about his idea of holding an expanded Group of Seven summit later this year with a possible invitation for Russia, the Kremlin and the White House said.
Trump said on Saturday he would postpone a G7 summit he had hoped to host next month until September or later and expand the list of invitees to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India. [nL1N2DD00F]
A White House statement on the call said Trump and Putin discussed “progress toward convening the G7.”
Britain and Canada have since spoken out against the idea of readmitting Russia to a forum it was expelled from in 2014 after annexing the Crimea region from Ukraine.
Russia had said earlier on Monday that it was looking for more details before responding. [nL8N2DE22U]
The two leaders also discussed the OPEC+ deal on oil output cuts, and measures to fight the coronavirus, the Kremlin said. Putin thanked Trump for a delivery of U.S. ventilators, the Kremlin said, and congratulated Trump on the first spaceflight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nine years. [nL1N2DC05C]
Trump and Putin also discussed “the need for effective arms control,” the White House said.
Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Alexander Marrow; and Steve Holland in Washington; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Catherine Evans and Alistair Bell
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