April 02, 2018 - 7:41 AM
MOSCOW - The Latest on relations between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump: (all times local):
6:25 p.m.
The White House has confirmed that U.S. President Donald Trump invited Russia's Vladimir Putin to Washington.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday that the White House was among "a number of potential venues" Putin and Trump discussed during a March 20 telephone conversation.
Huckabee Sanders said: "As the President himself confirmed on March 20, hours after his last call with President Putin, the two had discussed a bilateral meeting in the 'not-too-distant future' at a number of potential venues, including the White House."
She says the administration has no further comment on the matter.
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5:45 p.m.
An aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin says U.S. President Donald Trump has invited the Russian leader to the White House, but the two countries haven't started any preparations for such a visit.
Trump and Putin had a telephone conversation on March 20 in which Trump congratulated Putin on winning the Russian presidential election two days earlier. The White House and the Kremlin said at the time the two presidents discussed meeting in person.
Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told Russian news agencies on Monday that Trump specifically invited Putin to the White House during the call.
Ushakov added that their governments didn't have time to start arranging a meeting before the United States joined Britain and more than two dozen allies in sanctioning Russia over the nerve-agent poisoning of a Russian ex-spy in England.
News from © The Associated Press, 2018