The Kremlin said Friday that Russia remains open to a meeting between President Vladimir V. Putin and President-elect Donald J. He said this is possible only after taking office. January 20th.
On Thursday, in response to Trump’s comments that Putin wanted to meet with Trump to discuss the Ukraine war, a Kremlin spokesman reaffirmed Russia’s long-standing public position that the Kremlin is open to dialogue. did.
“We need a mutual desire and political will for dialogue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri S. Peskov told reporters. “We see that Trump has also declared his readiness to resolve the issue through dialogue. “I welcome that.”
Peskov said he understood that the Kremlin had “mutual preparations for talks,” but added: “It seems like things will start moving after Trump enters the Oval Office.”
Peskov denied that Putin had requested a meeting with Trump or that one had been arranged. as trump said on Thursday night.
The Kremlin has asserted its territorial claims to five regions in Ukraine, while insisting it prioritizes diplomacy over war.
Ukraine and some Western allies have questioned the seriousness of Russia’s offer to negotiate, saying the Kremlin’s terms actually represent a demand for Ukraine to surrender.
For Putin, who has been largely isolated from the West for almost three years since the invasion of Ukraine, the meeting with the U.S. president would be a chance to negotiate with a more friendly U.S. administration.
Trump has repeatedly said he could resolve the Russia-Ukraine war within his first 24 hours in office, without saying how. proposed It could take up to six months.
Trump said at a news conference Tuesday that he sympathizes with Russia’s position that Ukraine should never join NATO, one of the Kremlin’s key conditions for ending the war.
Trump’s victory in November generated a wave of cautious optimism that the war could soon end, even with a fragile ceasefire. But analysts say the process will be difficult and tedious, and many in Ukraine and other countries fear Mr. Trump may want to force a deal at the expense of surrender. I am doing it.
In Russia, political analyst Gyorgy Bobt said a meeting between Trump and Putin too soon “could lead to further escalation” as “the conditions for peace are not yet mature”.
“Both warring parties remain betting on the continuation of military action,” Bobt wrote. post on Telegram, a popular messaging app. “They don’t think their forces are depleted.”
Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center, said: I wrote People on social media said “the higher the expectations” from the meeting, the “more dangerous the game becomes, especially for Trump.”
