Moscow is prepared for a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart, Donald Trump, presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said.
Asked on Monday about the timeframe for the potential top-level meeting, Ushakov refused to give any estimates.
“There is no timetable yet, but there is a fundamental readiness to hold a meeting if it is prepared in advance by experts,” Ushakov stated.
Pressed further on whether the potential meeting could still occur this year, Ushakov replied, “I don’t know,” but pointed out that the Putin-Trump summit in Alaska held in August was prepared very quickly.
US President Donald Trump proposed to hold a summit with Putin in Budapest, Hungary, earlier this month, while Moscow signaled its willingness to participate. The idea, however, was called off by the US leader a few days later, when he said it “didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get” and called for an immediate halt to the hostilities along the front lines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The remarks constituted a sharp change in Trump’s rhetoric, as the US president previously called for a comprehensive peace agreement to resolve the conflict, rather than a temporary pause in the hostility. The approach has been backed by Moscow, which has also long maintained it is seeking a lasting solution to bring the crisis to its end.
Kiev and its Western backers have repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire, claiming readiness to immediately enter it. Moscow has expressed wariness of such a ceasefire, signaling it regards it only as a means to give Ukraine time to replenish its military and receive more arms from its backers.
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