Russia’s deputy foreign minister has stated that plans are on for US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet in person, reports Breaking News.
It represents a significant departure from the western isolation of Moscow due to its conflict in Ukraine.
Sergei Ryabkov told Russian official media that a potential Putin-Trump summit may cover a wide range of topics, not simply the conflict in Ukraine.
“The question is about starting to move towards normalising relations between our countries, finding ways to resolve the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, Ukraine among them,” he said, reports Breaking News.
However, he stated that attempts to arrange such a gathering are still in their infancy and that “the most intensive preparatory work” will be necessary to make it happen.
To open the door for more discussions with top officials, Mr. Ryabkov said that US and Russian envoys may meet “within the next two weeks.”
At a high-level meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Russian and US officials agreed to begin working towards ending the war in Ukraine and strengthening their diplomatic and economic ties. This marked an unprecedented reversal in US foreign policy under Mr. Trump, reports Breaking News.
The two sides largely agreed to pursue three objectives following the meeting, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Associated Press: re-establishing staffing at their respective embassies in Moscow and Washington; assembling a high-level team to assist peace negotiations with Ukraine; and investigating deeper ties and economic cooperation.
However, he emphasised that more work needed to be done and that the discussions, which were attended by Sergei Lavrov, his Russian counterpart, and other high-ranking Russian and American officials, were only the start of a dialogue. For his part, Mr. Lavrov praised the meeting as “very useful,” reports Breaking News.
The summit, which took place as the besieged nation is gradually losing territory to more numerous Russian soldiers, was attended by no Ukrainian authorities.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky postponed his own trip to Saudi Arabia that was supposed to take place last Wednesday, stating that his country would not accept any conclusion from the discussions because Kyiv did not participate.
Concerns about being marginalised have also been voiced by European partners, reports Breaking News.
In an apparent reversal of his earlier remarks accusing Kyiv of initiating the war, Mr. Trump stated on Friday that Mr. Zelensky and former US President Joe Biden ought to have done more to reconcile with Mr. Putin.
He referred to the Russian leader in a radio interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, saying, “Russia attacked, but they shouldn’t have let him attack,” reports Breaking News.
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