Kremlin confirms date of US, China and Russia leaders' meeting in Shenzhen

The Kremlin has confirmed that US President Donald Trump, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a trilateral meeting on Thursday, 19 November, in the Chinese city of Shenzhen. Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the Russian leader, told the TASS news agency that the gathering will take place on the sidelines of the APEC summit, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Peskov said an agreement to hold the three-way meeting has been reached.

What is on the agenda

The New York Post has reported that the three leaders are expected to discuss preparations for a nuclear arms control agreement during what would be their first-ever trilateral meeting.

Background

In October, The Wall Street Journal reported that Putin had proposed meeting Trump and Xi to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. On 19 October, Trump said he was willing to meet Putin and Xi for such talks, even without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy taking part. Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Putin, later announced that preparations for the trilateral meeting had already begun.

Zelenskyy, for his part, said the US, China and Russia could hold trilateral meetings, but Ukraine must be involved if the discussions concern its future.

In early November, Trump said he hoped to meet Xi and Putin at the APEC summit in China. He added that he also plans to discuss the war in Iran and denuclearisation.