Participants confirmed they discussed interference in the
USA elections but declined to go into details: ‘We got into it’
A delegation of US lawmakers has met top Russian officials and lawmakers to discuss ushering in a “new day” in relations ahead of a key summit between
Donald Trump and
Vladimir Putin later this month.
US Senator Richard Shelby spoke first for the eight-person delegation, including seven senators and a congresswoman, during meetings on Tuesday at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Russia’s Federation Council and the Duma.
It was the first time US lawmakers had visited Moscow as a delegation since 2013, before the annexation of Crimea, Russia’s intervention in Syria’s civil war – and meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.
“The Helsinki meeting will become the beginning of some better understanding” between the two countries, Shelby said in conversation with Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a former aide to Putin. “Perhaps not a utopia … but perhaps a better day.”
The Kremlin on Tuesday said it is possible that Putin and Trump will hold one-on-one talks, presumably with only translators present, if a “preliminary understanding is confirmed”.
“You know that President Putin feels comfortable in any formats with his counterpart,” Dmitri Peskov, Putin’s press secretary, told reporters on Tuesday.
Participants in the talks at the Duma confirmed they discussed interference in the US elections and the annexation of Crimea, but declined to go into details of the talks. “We got into it,” US Senator John Kennedy told the Guardian as he exited the parliament building, calling the talks “frank”.
The US Congress last year passed new Russia sanctions that also severely limited Trump’s authority to lift them, effectively putting the legislature in the driver’s seat for new sanctions policy.
Members of the delegation have talked about sending a “tough message” ahead of the Helsinki summit, but time was set aside for pleasantries. Russian lawmakers halted work to applaud the US delegation during a guided tour of the Duma, and Shelby spoke warmly of his impressions of the Duma during opening remarks.
“It looked like full attendance,” Shelby said of the Duma, which has been accused of being a rubber stamp parliament. “Everybody was there participating. Sometimes we need more of that in the US Senate and the US House.”
Also in the delegation were senators John Hoevan, John Thune, Jerry Moran, Steve Daines, and Kay Granger from the House of Representatives. All are Republicans.
The meetings came several weeks before Putin and Trump are set to meet in Helsinki for their first official summit. Trump told reporters last week that “we’re going to have to see”, when asked about whether the US would accept Russia’s claims on Crimea, which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“I’ll talk to him about everything,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “We’re going to be talking about Ukraine, we’re going to be talking about Syria, we’ll be talking about elections, and we don’t want anybody tampering with elections.”