US Senator Richard Shelby spoke first for the eight-person delegation, including seven senators and a congresswoman, during meetings on Tuesday at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russia’s Federation Council and the Duma.
It was the first time US lawmakers had visited Moscow as a delegation since 2013, before Crimea separated from Ukraine and voted to join Russia – and alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.
“The Helsinki meeting will become the beginning of some better understanding” between the two countries, Shelby said in conversation with Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, a former aide to Putin. “Perhaps not a utopia … but perhaps a better day.”
The Kremlin on Tuesday said it is possible that Putin and Trump will hold one-on-one talks, presumably with only translators present, if a “preliminary understanding is confirmed”.
Participants in the talks at the Duma confirmed they discussed interference in the US elections and the situation in Crimea, but declined to go into details of the talks. “We got into it,” US Senator John Kennedy was quoted as saying.
The US Congress last year passed new Russia sanctions that also severely limited Trump’s authority to lift them, effectively putting the legislature in the driver’s seat for new sanctions policy.
The American delegation included senators Richard Shelby , John Kennedy, John Hoevan, John Thune, Jerry Moran, Steve Daines, and Kay Granger from the House of Representatives. All are Republicans.
The meetings came several weeks before Putin and Trump are set to meet in Helsinki for their first official summit later on in July. Trump told reporters last week that “we’re going to have to see”, when asked about whether the US would accept Russia’s claims on Crimea. Crimea separated from Ukraine in 2014 (with Moscow's help ) , and the people of Crimea then voted in a referendum to join Russia. Ukraine has never recognized Crimea becoming a part of Russia.
