White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied that the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump was scratched due to news about Michael Cohen. | Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images Foreign Policy White House, Kremlin clash on plans for Trump-Putin chat U.S. and Russian officials also disagree on the real reason why Trump canceled a planned sit down with the Russian leader.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — The White House denied Friday that President Donald Trump has a pull-aside meeting planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the Kremlin said an impromptu meeting between the two leaders would occur.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agency RIA Novosti that the two leaders may chat “on their feet” during the G-20 summit, according to a Bloomberg report. Asked for comment, a White House official said, “There is no scheduled pull-aside.”


But that wouldn’t preclude the two men from speaking if, as is likely, they cross paths at the annual summit of the world’s leading economic powers. White House officials have not ruled out the possibility that Trump could speak informally with foreign leaders he is not officially scheduled to meet.

Trump did not interact with Putin during a group photo with world leaders at the summit, instead chatting mostly with French President Emmanuel Macron. And at the start of a formal meeting between the G-20 leaders, he was seen talking with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Asked by a reporter later on Friday whether he’s going to be exchanging pleasantries with Putin during the summit, Trump said, “I don’t know. Not particularly. I don’t know.”

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Trump canceled his planned meeting with Putin with a Thursday tweet from Air Force One, shortly after he departed for Argentina for the summit. He cited Russia’s capture of several Ukrainian ships earlier this week in waters off the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and which Trump officials have denounced as an act of Russian aggression. The decision to scuttle the meeting surprised and irked Russia.

In a statement, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders denied that the Putin meeting was scratched because of the news that Trump’s former lawyer pleaded guilty to lying about the extent to which he and Trump discussed a Moscow real-estate project during the 2016 presidential campaign.

“The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax, which is hopefully now nearing an end, is doing very well. Unfortunately, it probably does undermine our relationship with Russia,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “However, the reason for our canceled meeting is Ukraine. Hopefully, that will be resolved soon so that productive conversations can begin.”

But Russian government officials and media outlets have cast public doubt on that assertion.

"Was Ukraine’s provocation in the Kerch Strait the true reason for the cancellation?” Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Friday, according to Russia’s TASS news service. “We have heard the official explanation and taken note of it.""But is it true? I think the true reason is rooted in the domestic political situation in the United States, which is crucial for decision-making," Zakharova added.

A headline in the Kremlin-funded news outlet RT struck a similar note:“Bad publicity? Cohen? Russiagate? Many reasons Trump canceled Putin meeting, but Ukraine isn’t one,” it declared.