Putin and Trump talked briefly at G20 summit

US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin briefly spoke at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires, both the Kremlin and the White House have confirmed.

Kremlin aide, Yuri Ushakov, said on Saturday that the two leaders had a brief meeting on the sidelines of the summit. Ushakov also said that Putin met with US National Security Advisor John Bolton at the gathering, and that the US and Russia are ready to continue contact with one another.

However, he said he was unaware of when Trump and Putin might next meet.

The White House also confirmed that the two leaders had an informal conversation, saying it happened at the G20 dinner on Friday evening.

“As is typical at multilateral events, President Trump and the First Lady had a number of informal conversations with world leaders at the dinner last night, including President Putin," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said on Saturday.

It comes after Trump canceled a meeting with Putin at the summit over a flare-up between Russia and Ukraine in the Kerch Strait, which led to Russia detaining Ukrainian navy ships and those on board.

“Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting…” Trump wrote in a tweet on Thursday.

The standoff in the Kerch Strait began when Ukrainian navy ships were attempting to sail between two ports via the narrow waterway, which runs between Crimea and mainland Russia. Kiev claims it notified Moscow of its movements, Russia denies being given any warning and says it repeatedly asked Kiev to push the ships back throughout the course of many hours.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that officers from the Ukrainian security service (SBU) were embedded within the ships to coordinate an incursion, calling the entire debacle a “provocation” by Kiev.

The FSB also released footage of three men identified as Ukrainian service members who had been on the ships. In the video, the men are speaking on camera in detention, saying their crews intentionally violated Russia's maritime borders and ignored orders to stop.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the incident was staged in an attempt to settle internal problems in Ukraine. “It was a premeditated provocation with an eye to a scandal, with a view to achieving geopolitical goals and solving internal problems facing the Kiev regime,” he said, as quoted by TASS.

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