Kremlin on Bolton's Claim About Trump Being Late for 2018 Talks: Putin Never Waits for Anybody

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Kremlin’s protocol service works perfectly and therefore Russian President Vladimir Putin never waits for anybody at meetings, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday commenting on the former US National Security Advisor John Bolton's words about Trump being deliberately late at his first summit with Putin.

"It is difficult to say here, frankly speaking, I do not remember the details, the president did not wait for anyone there. I do not know if Trump was late intentionally, but our protocol service works perfectly and Putin never waits for anyone," Peskov told reporters.

Bolton said in his book of memoirs The Room Where It Happened, that the US delegation had decided to make Putin wait in the presidential palace in Helsinki, where the summit was to be held in 2018. Trump did indeed come to the meeting 20 minutes after the Russian president.

The spokesman added that Bolton "perhaps forgot" about the fact that the president of Finland also took part in the meeting.

The 2018 summit took place in Helsinki in July 2018 between Putin and Trump, marking their first full-fledged meeting, which they both declared productive and successful.