Trump reportedly invited Vladimir Putin to the White House

Thomson Reuters

Could Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin be meeting soon?

• President Donald Trump suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin could visit the White House, the Russian news outlet TASS reported on Monday. The US hasn't responded to the report yet.
• Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters that he hopes the two leaders can continue discussions about a possible summit, but no details have been confirmed.
• The US and Russia have been at odds lately over the poisoning of Russian dissident Sergei Skripal in the UK. The US and its European allies have blamed Russia for the attack.

President Donald Trump has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit him at the White House, Russian news agency TASS reported Monday.

"During a telephone conversation between our presidents, Trump suggested that the first meeting could be held in Washington," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov reportedly told journalists on Monday. "If everything goes well, I hope that the American side would not refuse its proposal to discuss the possibility of organizing the summit talks."

Trump and Putin spoke over the phone on March 20. Neither side has confirmed details of the proposed summit, and it is unclear whether Putin will accept Trump's apparent invitation to visit DC.

US-Russia relations took a downturn last month after Trump expelled 60 Russian diplomats from the US in response to the March 4 poisoning of Russian dissident Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK.

"The United States takes this action in conjunction with our NATO allies and partners around the world in response to Russia's use of a military-grade chemical weapon on the soil of the United Kingdom, the latest in its ongoing pattern of destabilizing activities around the world," the White House said in a statement last week.

A couple days later, Russia responded in kind by expelling 60 US diplomats.

Ushakov, the Kremlin aide, said the expulsions hurt the chances of a meeting between Trump and Putin, but didn't rule it out completely.

"Against the backdrop of these events, it's difficult to discuss the possibility of holding a summit", Ushakov said on Monday, according to Reuters.

"We want to believe that the discussions [about a possible summit] will begin," Ushakov said. "We want to hope that ... one day, at one time or another, we can arrive at the start of a serious and constructive dialogue."

The White House has not responded to the report yet.