Donald Trump-Vladimir Putin meeting at WWI commemoration on hold

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Potential talks between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Paris during World War I commemorations have been put on hold, the Kremlin said Wednesday.

Russian foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters Wednesday that French officials were concerned the talks between the two superpowers would steal attention from the ceremony recognizing the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI.

"The French partners actively brought their concerns to the Russian and U.S. sides and, with these considerations in mind, Washington and Moscow decided against holding a full-scale meeting of the presidents," Ushakov said, according to Bloomberg News.

Ushakov added, according to the Russian state-run news agency TASS, that negotiations are underway for the two leaders to meet in the United States.

"Alongside this, the possibility was considered of exchanging visits by the U.S. leader to Moscow and the Russian leader to Washington, but no concrete discussion has been held so far," Ushakov said.

Ushakov said that efforts for the two world leaders to meet on the sidelines of G20 summit in Buenos Aires Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 were moving forward.

"Preparations for a Buenos Aires meeting are underway, we continue consultations with the U.S., discussing the time and place for the meeting," Ushakov said. "We will clearly need to hold consultations on the meeting's agenda as well."

Trump and Putin met for an arranged one-on-one bilateral meeting in Helsinki in July, eliciting criticism from Republicans and Democrats after Trump praised the Russian president and declined to support U.S. intelligence officials who say the country tried to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

Trump later clarified that he did support U.S. intelligence, calling criticism of his meeting "fake news."