The White House on Tuesday reiterated its position that the United States does not recognize Russia‘s annexation of Crimea.
“We don’t recognize Russia’s attempts to annex Crimea at all,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters as President Donald Trump flew to West Virginia. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin plan to hold a summit on July 16 in Helsinki.
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The Kremlin said on Monday the Crimean peninsula which it annexed from Ukraine in 2014 is an inseparable part of Russia and not a subject on the agenda at Putin’s meeting with Trump in Helsinki.
Putin is open to looking for compromises with Trump on all other issues, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call with reporters.