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White House, Kremlin officials lay plans for Trump-Putin summit as John Bolton heads to Moscow

WASHINGTON — Plans for the first formal summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are taking shape as senior White House aide John Bolton heads to Moscow later this month for meetings with his Kremlin counterparts.

"We're looking at the possibility" of a Putin meeting in July, Trump told reporters at the White House.

The potential meeting is already drawing attacks from critics who say Trump is overly solicitous of Putin in the wake of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and Trump's ongoing disputes with G-7 and NATO allies over trade and defense policy.

This would be the first stand-alone summit for Trump and Putin; the two held less formal meetings last year on the sideline of economic conferences in Germany and in Vietnam.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters in Moscow that nothing is final.

"When and if we are ready, we will make the announcement,” he said.

Garrett Marquis, a spokesman for Bolton, sad Trump's national security adviser will be abroad June 25-27 to "meet with U.S. allies in London and Rome to discuss national security issues, and travel to Moscow to discuss a potential meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin."

The Trump-Putin meeting could happen while Trump travels to Europe in mid-July for a NATO conference in Brussels and a ceremonial visit to the United Kingdom.

Trump has clashed with NATO over his claims that alliance members are not spending enough on their own national defense.

"Trump's plan to meet Putin immediately before or after the NATO summit is a slap in the face to the alliance, whose mission centers largely around deterring Russian aggression," tweeted Ned Price, a National Security Council spokesman during the the Barack Obama administration.

"And that's probably just as Trump intended," Price said.

Adding to the controversy around a potential Trump-Putin meeting is the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into contacts between Trump's 2016 campaign and Russians who sought to influence the election via email hacks and fake news targeting Hillary Clinton and the Democrats.

Trump, who has denounced the Mueller investigation as a witch hunt, has advocated another meeting with the Russian president to discuss issues ranging from Syria to North Korea.

The president has discussed inviting Putin to the White House, but the Russians have said they would want a more neutral site, perhaps Vienna.

Earlier this month, Trump proposed that the G-7 group of industrial nations re-admit Russia as a member, a suggestion that drew rebukes from some U.S. allies.

"Before discussions could begin on any of this," said British Prime Minister Theresa May, "we would have to ensure Russia is amending its ways and taking a different route.”