White House has invited Vladimir Putin to Washington: US NSA John Bolton

The White House has invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to Washington, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Friday.

Putin and Trump have met several times on the sidelines of multilateral gatherings, but had only one bilateral summit, in the Finnish capital in July.

"We have invited president Putin to Washington," Bolton said. It was not immediately clear if Putin had accepted the invitation.

After the Helsinki encounter, Trump was accused by opponents, and even some members of his own Republican Party, of failing to stand up to the Russian leader.

The topic of Putin visiting the United States is a highly-charged one