The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia was open to a meeting between President Vladimir V. Putin and President-elect Donald Trump, but that any concrete steps to set up such talks could only be made after Mr. Trump’s inauguration. January 20.
Responding to comments by Mr Trump on Thursday that Mr Putin wanted to meet with him to discuss the war in Ukraine, a Kremlin spokesman reiterated Russia’s long-standing official position that Moscow was open to talks.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov told reporters that “we need mutual desire and political will to engage in dialogue.” “We see that Mr. Trump also declares that he is ready to solve the issues through dialogue. We welcome it.”
Mr. Peskov added that the Kremlin understood there was “mutual readiness for a meeting,” but he said “it seems things will start moving once Trump enters the Oval Office.”
He did not confirm that Mr. Putin had requested a meeting with Mr. Trump or that a meeting had been arranged. as Mr. Trump said Thursday night.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Kiev expects President Volodymyr Zelensky to meet with Mr Trump after the inauguration.
Spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi said that Ukraine is preparing for negotiations “at the highest level”. As for Mr. Trump’s comments about potential talks with the Russian leader, Mr. Tikhyi said the president-elect “has previously mentioned plans for such a meeting, so we don’t see anything new in this.”
“Our position is clear: everyone in Ukraine wants to end the war on fair terms for Ukraine,” he said at a press conference. “We believe that President Trump is also committed to ending the war. Therefore, the priority now is a meeting between our presidents.”
“The most important thing for us is to cooperate with America for the sake of peace,” he said.
While making territorial claims over 5 regions of Ukraine, the Kremlin insists it will prefer diplomacy to war.
Ukraine and some of its Western allies have questioned the seriousness of Russia’s offer of talks, saying the Kremlin’s terms are actually a demand for Ukraine’s capitulation.
Russia has been largely isolated from the West for nearly three years after invading Ukraine. For Mr. Putin, the meeting with the American president will represent a chance to build relations with a friendlier American administration.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he could resolve the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours without saying how, and sometimes even said he could do it before taking office. But this week he is suggested it can take up to six months.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he sympathized with Russia’s position that Ukraine should never join NATO, one of the Kremlin’s main conditions for ending the war.
Mr. Trump’s victory in November sparked a wave of cautious optimism that the war will soon end, even if there is a shaky ceasefire. But analysts have said the process will be difficult and tedious, and many in Ukraine and elsewhere fear that Mr. Trump may seek a deal at the expense of capitulation.
Giorgi Bovt, a political analyst in Russia, said that if the meeting between Mr. Trump and Putin took place too early, “if the conditions for peace are not yet ripe,” it “could lead to greater tensions.”
“Both belligerents are still betting on continued hostilities,” Mr Bowt wrote a post on the popular messaging app Telegram. “They do not consider their forces exhausted.”
Tatyana Stanova, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, he wrote “The higher the expectations” of the meeting on social media, “the riskier the game is for Trump.”
Cassandra Winograd He prepared a report from Kiev, Ukraine.
