Vladimir Putin wants to meet with AMLO

Russian President Vladimir Putin

is looking into a possible meeting with Mexican President-Elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador late this year in Mexico or Argentina , Russian news agency Tass reported on Tuesday .

López Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1 , invited Putin to his inauguration in a meeting on Monday with Russia’s ambassador to Mexico .

Putin met former President Vicente Fox in Mexico in 2004 and returned to attend the 2012 G20 Summit , which brings together the world’s 20 largest economies .

The Russian leader is expected to attend this year’s G20 summit from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1 in Argentina , suggesting a scheduling conflict with López Obrador’s inauguration.

“Argentina is not far away, so there are several options we could look into: a flight to Mexico or a meeting in Argentina,” Tass reported Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov as saying in Vladivostok .

Mexico’s foreign minister, Luis Videgaray

, met with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow last November amid efforts to find alternative markets to the United States during a contentious process to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement .

In López Obrador’s meeting with Russian ambassador Viktor Koronelli on Monday, according to a statement from the president-elect’s office, the two discussed the growing numbers of Russian tourists in Mexico, eliminating a visa for Mexican tourists in Russia and Russia’s forthcoming investments in Mexico’s auto sector.

Mexico and Russia to lift visa requirements

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