Putin ready for talks with Trump on Ukraine, Kyiv expresses concern
Putin and Trump shakes hands at G20 Summit, in Osaka, Japan, Jun. 28, 2019. (AA Photo)
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he was ready to engage in talks with U.S. President Donald Trump on the Ukraine conflict, praising him as a “smart” leader who might have prevented the war’s outbreak in 2022.
Kyiv responded swiftly, warning that it should not be excluded from any negotiations.
Putin did not specify when the talks might take place, and the Kremlin previously stated it was still awaiting “signals” from Washington, despite Trump’s announcement Thursday that he was willing to meet Putin “immediately.”
“I really would like to meet with President Putin soon and get that war ended,” said Trump during World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that the “horrible” war should stop.
“We have always said, and I want to emphasize this once again, that we are ready for these negotiations on Ukrainian issues,” Putin told a reporter from Russian state TV.
Praising Trump as a “smart” and “pragmatic” leader, Putin also reiterated the Republican’s unfounded claim that he won the 2020 U.S. presidential election against Joe Biden.
“I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president — if his victory hadn’t been stolen in 2020 — then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that emerged in 2022,” Putin said.
Lower oil prices could end Ukraine war, says Trump
The nearly three-year Ukraine conflict has severely strained relations between the two nuclear powers, reaching their lowest point since the Cold War.
Trump, who was inaugurated on Monday, has called the conflict “ridiculous” and warned Russia of harsher economic sanctions if it does not halt its offensive.
“If they don’t settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I’m going to put massive tariffs on Russia, and massive taxes, and also big sanctions,” Trump said during a Fox News interview Thursday.
In a separate appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump suggested he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices, claiming: “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”
Putin rejected Trump’s assertion that lower oil prices could expedite the conflict’s end.
“I have a hard time imagining there will be decisions taken that are detrimental to the American economy,” Putin said Friday.
