The Kremlin confirms Putin’s readiness to meet Trump

The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia remains open to a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and President-elect Donald J. Trump, but any concrete steps to establish such talks can only be taken after Trump is sworn in on Friday. January 20.

In response to comments Thursday by Trump, who said Putin wanted to meet with him to discuss the war in Ukraine, a Kremlin spokesman reiterated Russia’s long-standing official position that Moscow is ready to talk.

Dimitri S. said: Peskov, Kremlin spokesman, told reporters: “We need a mutual desire and political willingness to enter into a dialogue.” “We see that Mr. Trump also declares his willingness to resolve issues through dialogue. We welcome that.”

Mr Peskov added that the Kremlin’s understanding was that there was a “mutual willingness to hold a meeting”, but said: “It seems that things will start moving after Trump enters the Oval Office.”

Mr. Peskov did not confirm that Mr. Putin had requested a meeting with Mr. Trump or that one was being prepared. As Mr. Trump said Thursday night.

While the Kremlin asserts its territorial claim to its five regions in Ukraine, it insists that it prefers diplomacy to war.

Ukraine and some of its Western allies questioned Russia’s seriousness in the negotiation offer, and said that the Kremlin’s conditions actually represented a demand for Ukraine’s surrender.

After being largely isolated from the West for nearly three years since the invasion of Ukraine, the meeting with the US president would represent an opportunity for Mr Putin to negotiate with a friendlier US administration.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he could resolve the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours after taking office, without explaining how, but this week Suggested It may take up to six months.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Trump said he was sympathetic to the Russian position that Ukraine should never join NATO, one of the main conditions put forward by the Kremlin to end the war.

Trump’s victory in November produced a wave of cautious optimism that the war might end soon, even if under an uneasy ceasefire. But analysts said the process would be difficult and tedious, and many in Ukraine and elsewhere feared that Trump might want to push through a deal at the expense of his surrender.

In Russia, Giorgi Bovt, a political analyst, said that if a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin occurred too early, when “conditions for peace have not yet matured,” it could “lead to greater escalation.”

“Both warring parties are still betting on continued military action,” Mr. Buffett wrote. job On Telegram, the popular messaging app. “They do not consider their forces exhausted.”

Tatiana Stanovaya is a senior scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center books On social media, he said that “the higher the expectations” from the meeting, “the riskier the game, most of all for Trump.”