“It all seems to be happening in parallel universes,” she said, “one in which Russia poisons and interferes, and another in which none of this happened.”

Other analysts said the discussion of a possible meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin may be more for domestic consumption in a Russia that sees itself excoriated by the international community after the poisoning of Mr. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia.

“People are realizing what a major hit they took,” said John R. Beyrle, a former American ambassador to Russia. “It’s a way to say, ‘See, it’s not so bad, Putin is still welcome in polite society.’ I was in Moscow last month just before the elections and was struck by how fed up some members of the Russian elite are getting at their perpetual pariah status — and this was before Skripal.”

A White House visit would be a significant gesture toward the Russian leader. Mr. Putin has not been to the White House since 2005, when Mr. Bush hosted him there. Other than United Nations sessions, Mr. Putin’s last visit to the United States for a presidential summit meeting came in 2007 when Mr. Bush and his father hosted him at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Me. Mr. Obama never invited Mr. Putin to the White House during his eight years in office, and the Russian declined an invitation to Camp David in 2012 for a meeting of what was then called the Group of 8. The two did meet in New York in 2015 during a United Nations session.

Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin have met in Germany and in Vietnam on the sideline of international summit meetings and currently have no plans to get together before November, when both are expected to attend a Group of 20 gathering in Argentina.

Mr. Ushakov said the two sides had not started any preparatory talks for a White House meeting because of the tailspin in relations. He nonetheless voiced a desire that Mr. Trump not drop the idea. “I hope the Americans won’t abandon their proposal to discuss the possibility of holding the summit,” he said.

Just as Mr. Trump has shown a striking reluctance to criticize Mr. Putin, even when the two countries are ejecting each other’s diplomats, the Kremlin and the Russian news outlets it controls have often avoided criticizing Mr. Trump directly.

