Key Points
- Trump says Putin wants to meet him
- Trump has frequently mocked Ukrainian President Zelensky as a “salesman”
- US has delivered tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine
News Desk
MSOCOW: The Kremlin said Friday that President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with US President-elect Donald Trump.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia proceeds from the mutual desire of such contacts both on behalf of Moscow and Washington.
Trump, set to be inaugurated on January 20, has claimed that he can quickly end the nearly three-year conflict between Russia and Ukraine, though he has yet to provide a detailed plan.
The president has repeatedly stated his openness to contact with international leaders, including the US president, including Donald Trump,” Peskov said.
Donald Trump on Thursday said that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to meet him and that a meeting between the pair was being arranged.
“He wants to meet, and we’re setting it up,” Trump said at a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.
“President Putin wants to meet, he’s said that even publicly, and we have to get that war over with, that’s a bloody mess,” he said.
Peskov said the Kremlin welcomed the intention of the US president-elect to resolve issues through dialogue.
No conditions are required for this. It requires a mutual desire and political will to engage in dialogue and solve existing issues through dialogue,” he said.
Peskov also said that Trump’s representatives have not yet contacted the Russian side, but contacts may take place after his inauguration.
No conditions are required. What is required is mutual desire and political will to solve problems through dialogue,” he told reporters in a daily briefing.
Trump’s hopes for a swift resolution to the conflict have raised concerns in Kyiv that Ukraine might be pressured into accepting a peace deal on terms favourable to Moscow.
Trump has often mocked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling him a “salesman,” while sparking controversy in Washington by seldom criticising Putin and occasionally expressing admiration for the Kremlin leader.
In addition to opposing the extensive military aid provided to Ukraine under President Joe Biden, Trump has questioned the future of U.S. involvement in the NATO alliance.
Under Biden, the United States has been Ukraine’s largest wartime supporter, supplying over $65 billion in military aid since February 2022.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s foreign ministry dismissed Trump’s comments on any forthcoming meeting with Putin. “Trump has talked about plans for such a meeting before, so we see nothing new in this,” said spokesman Georgiy Tykhy.
“Our position is very simple: we all in Ukraine want to end the war fairly for Ukraine, and we see that President Trump is also determined to end the war,” he said, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
