Kremlin: Trump-Putin meeting set

MOSCOW -- Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on the sidelines of an international summit in Japan, the Kremlin said Wednesday, in talks coming amid bitter differences between Moscow and Washington.

Trump has said he plans to meet with Putin during the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, and Putin has said he welcomes dialogue and is ready to sit down for talks. Wednesday's statement by Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, marked the official Kremlin confirmation of the two presidents' meeting Friday.

Ushakov said the meeting is set to last about an hour, though it will be up to the presidents to decide. He added the talks are expected to touch on arms control issues and international crises, including the Iranian nuclear deal, Syria, North Korea and Ukraine.

"Russia and the United States can work together efficiently on the basis of equality and mutual respect," Ushakov said, adding the Kremlin "stands for developing Russian-U.S. relations in a constructive and businesslike way."

Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to their lowest level since the Cold War over the crisis in Ukraine, the war in Syria and Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Putin has denied Russia has meddled in the vote to help Trump win, even though U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller has uncovered extensive evidence to the contrary.

Putin and Trump have met on the sidelines of several international meetings, most recently at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires last fall.

They also had a full-fledged summit in Helsinki, Finland last July, after which Trump faced fierce criticism at home for accepting Putin's denial of meddling in the U.S. vote.