Moscow, Jun 20 (PTI) Amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine and new conflagration in West Asia sparked by Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, Russia is skeptical about the prospects of an early summit between President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump.
"The issues that need to be resolved are so complicated and have so many nuances that first, homework needs to be done at the expert level," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"Only then, the possibility of a highest-level meeting could be discussed in order to finalise the results of this homework,” he added.
He was speaking to journalists in St. Petersburg, which has become the power centre for three days as President Putin, accompanied by his key officials, is attending the International Economic Forum (SPIEF25) - dubbed as Russia’s Davos.
Peskov noted that both President Putin and President Trump agree that their meeting will be mandatory and necessary at some point to settle the outcome of this work.
Peskov added that the two leaders, through phone calls, keep giving fillip to bilateral relations.
Speaking at the St. Petersburg Forum, Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Pankin said that "friction" in relations between Russia and Western countries will remain for a long time.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned that the world is on the edge of a nuclear catastrophe following Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
“We are literally inches away from a nuclear disaster,” Zakharova said. "The strikes are ongoing. While they may be described as surgical or selective, they are being carried out in close proximity to facilities housing radioactive and nuclear materials.”
She raised a stark warning: “Today, targets include sites containing nuclear material. Isn’t this a genuine nuclear threat? Radiation does not respect borders — once released, it cannot be contained. This situation poses a risk not only to regional stability but to the entire world. A catastrophe of this magnitude would have devastating global consequences.”
As Israel and Iran continue missile strikes at each other, Russia will continue to maintain contacts with all sides, including the US, and the number of such contacts will increase in the next few days, Russia's Special Envoy on West Asia Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by the official TASS agency.
"I will not guess what will happen next, now because the situation is very dangerous, indeed, as strikes are being delivered on Iranian nuclear and energy facilities. Radiation leakage that, of course, knows no borders, may occur. And this, of course, is very dangerous for adjacent countries, especially Gulf countries," he said.
"This poses a danger to all of us. And in this connection, we will continue this communication, including with the US leadership,” he added.
According to Bogdanov, President Putin has lately held over a hundred meetings and talks with Arab leaders.
"I think, these days, the number of such contacts will grow, because our task is, certainly, to persuade everybody to stop the bloodshed and sit down at the negotiating table”.