File photo: Russia's President Vladimir Putin gestures during the joint press conference
Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit Austria on Aug. 18 to attend Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl's wedding, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
Putin is also due on Aug. 18 to travel to Germany to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks about Syria, Ukraine and energy at the government's Meseberg palace outside Berlin.
The Kremlin said on Wednesday preparations were underway for a meeting in Geneva next week between Russian officials and White House national security adviser John Bolton, the first top-level meeting since the Russian and U.S. presidents met in Helsinki."Such contacts are indeed planned and being prepared," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Wednesday. Peskov did not elaborate further.U.S. President Donald Trump faced criticism at home after he met Vladimir Putin in the Finnish capital in July, and refused to blame the Russian leader for meddling in the 2016 U.S. election.A new round of U.S. sanctions targeting Russia was announced in the wake of that criticism, prompting the Russian rouble to fall sharply.Last week, Rand Paul, a Republican senator and Trump ally, travelled to the Russian capital, saying his trip aimed to encourage diplomacy amid the tense relations between Moscow and Washington.Washington had said on Tuesday Bolton would meet Russian officials as a follow-up to the Helsinki summit.China angered at new US defence act, to assess contentFBI agent, who criticized Trump in text messages, is fired
Trump adviser Bolton to meet Russian officials next week