The potential summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former US President Donald Trump is set to occur this month, but the timing is not clear, the Kremlin stated Wednesday. If it happens, it will be the first direct meeting between a Russian and US leader since 2021.
Trump said on Tuesday that he would “probably” sit down with Putin this month and brushed aside Ukrainian fears of being left out of US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia. He also intimated that Kyiv might have negotiated a deal with Moscow sooner.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Riyadh meeting was mainly about Russian-US relations but described it as a “very, very important step” toward ending the Ukraine war, which is approaching its third year. But he warned that peace talks would take a long time. “This is the first step… Of course, it’s impossible to repair everything in one day or a week,” Peskov said.
When questioned about the possibility of a Trump-Putin meeting during this month, Peskov said, “Possibly. And possibly not.” The previous personal meeting between a US and Russian president was when Putin sat down with Trump’s successor, Joe Biden, in June 2021.
Trump has upended traditional Western policy on Russia and Ukraine, calling for direct US-Russia negotiations without Kyiv or European powers. He has also mentioned negotiating oil prices, a vital economic consideration for Russia. Though he says he can end the war and thinks Putin is willing to make a deal, he has not yet laid out a detailed plan.
The US-Russia negotiations in Riyadh were the first formal discussions for a negotiated end to the war. Excluded from attendance is Ukraine, which insists no peace should be settled on it without its assent.
