Russian News Agency TASS quoted a Kremlin spokesman as saying on Saturday that Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump will hold a trilateral meeting in the Chinese city of Shenzhen on Thursday, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The meeting comes as Trump plans to discuss the war in Iran with his Chinese and Russian counterparts, a senior US official said on Friday during a conference call with reporters.
The official explained that the US president intends to address the Iran issue during the meeting but does not expect the leaders to discuss the war in Ukraine. He noted that Washington is pursuing a completely separate track of negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow, in which China is not involved, making it seem inappropriate to raise the Ukraine issue during the talks.
The White House announced on Friday that Trump, Putin and Xi Jinping would hold a trilateral meeting next week on the sidelines of the APEC summit, hosted by the Chinese city of Shenzhen. White House spokeswoman Olivia Wells said Trump would discuss, among other topics, global nuclear arms reduction, explaining that the US president considers the proliferation of such weapons a serious threat.
