The Kremlin said on Friday that a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump was essential but required considerable advance preparation and had to yield results when it happened.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was commenting after Trump said he would meet Putin “as soon as we can set it up”.
“…Such a meeting is certainly necessary. It is necessary both primarily from the point of view of bilateral Russian-U.S. relations and from the point of view of having a serious conversation at the highest level about international affairs and on regional problems, including, of course, about the crisis over Ukraine,” Peskov said.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were in Istanbul on Friday for what was billed as their first direct peace talks in more than three years, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.
Commenting on the Istanbul talks, Peskov said that the Russian negotiating team was in constant communication with Moscow and that President Putin was receiving real-time updates.
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would like to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin “as soon as we can set it up”, during a business roundtable in Abu Dhabi.
“As soon as we can set it up I would actually leave here and go,” Trump said in response to a question about meeting the Russian leader.
Trump has repeatedly said he was willing to travel to Turkey to join the first direct Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in more than three years, insisting “nothing’s going to happen” before he meets the Russian president face-to-face.
Russians and Ukrainians meet in Turkey for first talks in 3 years
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators met in Istanbul on Friday at their first direct peace talks in more than three years, under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.
Live Turkish television pictures showed Russian and Ukrainian negotiators holding discussions together with a Turkish delegation. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was making a speech at the start of the meeting.
The meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace on the Bosphorus marks a rare sign of diplomatic progress between the warring sides, who had not met face-to-face since March 2022, the month after Russia’s invasion.
Expectations for a major breakthrough, already low, were dented further on Thursday when Trump said there would be no movement without a meeting between himself and Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.