Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton and Vice-President Mike Pence had a brief, lively and seemingly warm conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Singapore on Thursday, leading social media to wonder exactly what the three men talked about.
The East Asia Summit in Singapore on Wednesday and Thursday touched on a number of regional and international issues, including cyberattacks, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, economic and infrastructure projects, and environmental issues.
Vice-President Pence represented the US at the summit, focusing much of his time on the feud with China over the South China Sea. President Putin, for his part, held talks with several Asian leaders about energy, security and defense cooperation, and cooperation between the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union and the ASEAN nations.
The highlight of the summit proved to be the brief, informal discussion between Putin, Pence and Bolton, with Pence press secretary Alyssa Farah offering few details on the talks, saying they focused on the upcoming G20 Summit in Argentina.
Putin offered a more detailed account: “President Trump and I were able to participate in [the] general discussion [in Paris on Sunday] in quite a meaningful way. We talked about security, economic development, regional issues. Now, with the vice-president, we touched on roughly the same subjects. One…
