Putin Trump planning to meet

Post Reply New Topic

The Kremlin said Thursday that a meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has been agreed in principle and will happen in the “coming days,” teeing up what would be their first in-person encounter of Trump's second term.

At the same time, Moscow all but dismissed Trump's proposal for a three-way summit involving Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, continuing the Kremlin's longstanding resistance to such a sit-down.

Trump's efforts are part of his campaign promise to resolve Russia's war in Ukraine, and his wider "America First" pledge to end involvement in foreign conflicts altogether.

“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement in principle was made to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days,” Putin’s longtime foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said in an audio statement.

The idea of a Trump-Putin-Zelenskyy meeting "for some reason was mentioned by Washington yesterday” but “not specifically discussed,” Ushakov said. The Russian side had “left this option completely, completely without comment.”

A White House official reiterated Thursday that Putin and Zelenskyy must meet in order for a summit with Trump to occur. The same official said no location had been set yet.

On meeting Zelenskyy, Putin said earlier Thursday he had "nothing against it — it is possible — but for this to happen, certain conditions must be created. Unfortunately, such conditions are far away yet," he added. In the past, he has described Ukraine's government as illegitimate, saying he would only meet Zelenskyy during the "final" phase of negotiations.

Putin suggested Thursday that he could meet with Trump in the United Arab Emirates. Asked about which side proposed the meeting, he added, “Interest was shown on both sides. Who said what first? It is no longer important.”

Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff enjoyed a cordial visit to Moscow on Wednesday with Putin and his close friend and investment chief, Kirill Dmitriev.

Briefing Trump after the meeting, Witkoff told the president that Putin would like to meet, according to a White House official. Trump responded that he was open to that but that he also would want for Putin to meet with Zelenskyy to discuss a ceasefire, the official said.

But Trump — who once said he could end the war in 24 hours — has found the reality more difficult.

Friday is the deadline ultimatum issued by Trump to Putin, challenging him to end the war in Ukraine or face tough new economic sanctions.

Trump on Wednesday slapped an additional 25% tariff on India in an apparent punishment for its purchase of Russian oil. He has suggested that Friday he could issue a 100% secondary tariff on any nation that buys Russian goods — something that would hugely impact China, Russia's biggest petrochemicals customer — unless Putin agrees to a ceasefire.

That's a culmination of recent weeks in which the American leader has adopted far tougher language toward his Russian opposite number — decrying Russia's continued bombing of Ukrainian civilians and pledging arms sales to Ukraine via Europe.

Despite this renewed pressure from Washington, the Kremlin has shown no sign of modifying its maximalist war goals, including the long-term seizure of even more Ukrainian territory, a promise it would never join the NATO defense alliance, and the neutering of its military and geopolitical independence.

Western independent analysts say these terms would effectively render it a vassal of the Kremlin.

Ukraine has in the past reacted with alarm to the prospect of being excluded from Russian-American negotiations about its own fate.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy said several formats for "leader-level" meetings to end the war had been discussed — "two bilateral and one trilateral."

"Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side," he wrote in a post on X. "It is time we ended the war."