OREANDA-NEWS  Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov explained why Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump refused the idea to hold a full-scale meeting in Paris in November during the events dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. The reason, according to Peskov, was "a very busy agenda,".

"Indeed, there will be a lot of heads of state and government and a very busy agenda in terms of ceremonial and Protocol events, so we have agreed that it will be difficult to make a full – scale meeting there," Peskov said. At the same time, he noted that Putin and Trump will still be able to meet "on their feet" in Paris and agree to hold a full meeting.

The presidents of Russia and the United States planned to meet in the French capital on November 11. At this time, there will be celebrations with the participation of heads of different countries on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War. In late October, the Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said after a meeting with US presidential Advisor John Bolton that Putin and Trump will spend this time in Paris full-fledged talks.

At the same time, at the end of October, Trump confirmed that the meeting was organized. "I think we'll probably meet," he noted. However, in November, he already said that the meeting with the President of Russia in Paris is unlikely to take place: "there is no confidence that this will be the right place – I'm going to Paris for other reasons."

According to the US President, he can meet with Putin at the G20 summit, which will be held in Argentina in late November.

Putin and Trump refused to hold a full-format meeting in Paris because of the intervention of French President Emmanuel Macron, wrote other sources, citing a European diplomatic source. According to this information, Macron asked them not to hold a meeting, so as not to distract attention from the events to the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War, which was prepared by the Elysee Palace.

Putin and Trump have met three times. However, the full-scale meeting was only one-in the summer of 2018 in Helsinki. The previous two meetings took place in 2017 on the sidelines of various summits: the first was held during the G20 Congress in the summer and in November they met at the summit in Vietnam.