Russia’s Defense Ministry announced on Tuesday that it is willing to step up security cooperation with the United States in the wake of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin.
“The Russian Defense Ministry is ready for practical implementation of the agreements in the sphere of international security reached by Russian and U.S. Presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, at their Monday’s summit in Helsinki,” said Defense Ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov.
One of the areas of ideas proposed by Konashenkov was to open negotiations for extending the START Treaty, which places limits on country’s deployable nuclear weapons, as well as increased cooperation against the Islamic State in Syria.
“[We are] ready to enliven contact with the U.S. colleagues, between our General Staffs and via other communication channels, to discuss the extension of the START Treaty, cooperation in Syria, and other topical issues of military security,” he continued.
The announcement came a day after Trump’s meeting with Putin in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, where the two leaders agreed to increase cooperation on a number issues, including keeping the threat of Iran at bay, maintaining the pressure on North Korea to commit to denuclearization, as well as de-escalating tensions in Ukraine.
The summit caused outrage among large swathes of the American left and in some Republican circles after Trump appeared to side with Putin on the question of alleged Russian interference during the 2016 presidential election.
Another prominent issue raised at the summit was ensuring Israel’s security with regards to Iran’s involvement in Syria, where Trump reportedly pressed Putin to help push back Iranian troops located near Israeli-Syria frontier on the Golan Heights.
“They would like to do certain things with respect to Syria, having to do with the safety of Israel,” he said. “In that respect, we absolutely would like to work in order to help Israel.”
Trump also revealed that Putin had agreed to help with the ongoing negotiations with North Korea that will see the nation get rid of their nuclear weapons.
“Russia has agreed to help with North Korea, where relationships with us are very good and the process is moving along,” he wrote on Twitter. There is no rush, the sanctions remain! Big benefits and exciting future for North Korea at end of the process!”
Trump also added that he and Putin “got along well” and he is now expecting “big results” from the meeting.
So many people at the higher ends of intelligence loved my press conference performance in Helsinki. Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting. We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 18, 2018
“Putin and I discussed many important subjects at our earlier meeting,” he said. “We got along well which truly bothered many haters who wanted to see a boxing match. Big results will come!”
Follow Ben Kew on Facebook, Twitter at @ben_kew, or email him at bkew@breitbart.com.
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