Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama met on June 18 to discuss projected deployment of missile shield in Europe, prospects of peace settlement in Syria and bilateral ties at the sidelines of G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.
The G20 summit will be held on June 18-19. Obama and Putin met ahead of it behind closed doors. The meeting lasted during 2 hours. Following the negotiations, the presidents will issue a joint statement, which will enshrine the partners' will to develop diplomatic ties and expand trade contacts.
Russia dismissed on Wednesday claims by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that it was selling attack helicopters to Syria and accused the United States of arming rebels fighting against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
"We are completing right now the implementation of contracts that were signed and paid for a long time ago," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks in the Iranian capital of Tehran. "All these contracts concern exclusively anti-aircraft defense."
The U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will vote on its version the so-called Magnitsky List bill on June 19, according to the hearings schedule published on its website.
The Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, with amendments, seeks to impose visa bans and asset freezes on the Russian officials involved in the alleged torture and murder of 37-year-old Russian anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky as well as in other gross human rights abuses in Russia.
