Moscow: Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a meeting with US President Donald Trump and discussing the war in Ukraine would be a good idea. Issuing his first comment since Trump’s threat of economic sanctions and tariffs on Moscow, Putin said that he is ready for such a meeting, The Guardian reported.
Putin told Russian media that Moscow believes the US president’s statements about his readiness to work together, and Russia is always open to this and ready for negotiations. He said that it would be better for the two presidents to meet and talk calmly on the basis of “realities today”.
Putin described his relations with Trump as “businesslike, pragmatic and trustworthy.”
The Russian President further said that negotiations with Ukraine were complicated since Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree preventing himself from organizing talks with Putin.
Further, in an effort to court Trump’s favour, Putin said that Trump would have prevented the war in Ukraine from breaking out, as Trump himself claimed. He also parroted Trump’s claim that the 2020 US elections were “stolen” from the Republicans.
Trump has called repeatedly for an immediate end to war in Ukraine since his inauguration. He had expressed his readiness to meet the Russian premier “immediately”, The Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, Ukraine President Zelensky said on Friday that Putin is trying to manipulate Trump, whose desire is to achieve peace. But he added that he is confident that no Russian manipulations will succeed.