Putin-Trump meeting could take place only after it is prepared by experts - Peskov

MOSCOW. July 28 (Interfax) - A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump could take place only after it is prepared at the expert level, Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

"In our opinion, work at the expert level should be done first, because it is completely illogical to leave this work, this difficult preliminary work to the presidents. First, it is necessary to get ready, put together settlement process parameters and then record them at the top level, but not the other way round," Peskov said upon being asked by journalists to comment on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's statement that he is ready to organize a meeting between Putin and Trump in Istanbul.

Peskov was also asked to comment on Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan's remarks that Moscow and Kiev have reached a tentative agreement that a possible future meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents could take place in Turkey.

"Certainly, all parties to the negotiation process like Turkey, and, of course, I speak for our side here, we are grateful to Ankara and the leadership of Turkey for their efforts to help search for settlement options, for the conditions provided by the Turkish leadership for conducting negotiations, and this attitude of ours certainly stays for the future," he said.