John Bolton arrives in Moscow, meets with Putin amid Trump Russia relations push

National Security Adviser John Bolton has arrived in Russia and will meet with President Vladimir Putin as part of a Trump administration blitz for better relations with Moscow.

Bolton landed in the capital city on Wednesday, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirming that the conservative American adviser would meet with the country’s longtime leader.

The Putin meeting may be the first in a string for American officials, with a group of senators eyeing a similar rendezvous when they come to Moscow next week and President Trump looking at a potential sit down with the former KGB agent in the middle of next month.

Peskov did not comment on the possibility of the Trump-Putin meeting, which reports have said would likely happen in Helsinki, Finland, though Bolton was scheduled to speak to reporters in the early evening local time.

Trump has a history of praising Putin and recently suggested that Russia could re-enter the G7 after casting doubt on the reason it was kicked out, the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

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He and Putin have met twice since the former entered the Oval Office, at international summits last fall in Vietnam and last July in Hamburg, Germany, where alleged election interference in favor of Trump was a subject of conversation.

Moscow officials including Putin have denied any interference, through Special Counsel Robert Mueller has indicted dozens of people in his probe into the matter and received guilty pleas from Trump figures including Michael Flynn, Rick Gates and George Papadopoulos.

Bolton is known as a super-hawk on foreign policy including in relation to Moscow, though has also appeared on the edges of Russia investigation reporting after he appeared in a Russian gun rights video in 2013 and his Super PAC’s work with data company Cambridge Analytica.

Beyond Putin, Bolton’s visit to Moscow has also included conversations with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian security leaders.