MOSCOW:Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed on Friday his openness to discussions with US President Donald Trump regarding the Ukraine conflict, calling Trump a “smart” leader who might have prevented the war from erupting in 2022. However, the Kremlin is still awaiting indications from Washington, despite Trump announcing earlier in the week that he would be willing to meet Putin “immediately.”
Putin, speaking to Russian state TV, reiterated Russia’s readiness for talks on the Ukrainian issue, emphasizing their ongoing willingness to negotiate. He also praised Trump as a “pragmatic” individual, aligning with Trump’s claims that the 2020 US presidential election was “stolen” from him and that, had Trump won, the Ukraine crisis may have been avoided.
The war in Ukraine, now nearly three years long, has severely strained relations between Russia and the US, bringing them to their lowest point since the Cold War. Trump, having been inaugurated as president earlier this week, has referred to the conflict as “ridiculous” and warned of increased sanctions if Russia does not cease its military actions.
In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Trump threatened “massive tariffs, taxes, and sanctions” if the war does not come to a swift end. He also suggested that lowering oil prices could help resolve the conflict, proposing that he would press Saudi Arabia and OPEC to reduce prices.
Putin, however, rejected this idea, suggesting that decisions detrimental to the US economy would be difficult to implement and unlikely to help resolve the war.
