Russian President Vladimir Putin last week expressed his willingness to engage in potential talks with President-elect Donald Trump aimed at resolving the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has lasted nearly three years. Putin said that he has not communicated with Trump in several years and that there are no immediate plans for a meeting.
Putin said this at a wide-ranging end-of-year news conference in Moscow. However, he emphasized that if a conversation does take place, he is prepared to make “compromises” to bring an end to the conflict in Ukraine. Earlier, Trump too had said that he would like to talk to Putin after not talking to him for years.
Putin’s Desire to Talk to Trump
“I don’t know when we will meet because he has not said anything about it,” the 72-year-old Russian leader said of his once and future US counterpart.
“I have not talked to him for more than four years,” Putin continued. “Of course, I’m ready to talk any time; I will be ready to meet with him if he wishes.”
Trump, 78, pledged during his campaign that he would personally oversee peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, claiming he could bring the devastating conflict to a halt within 24 hours of taking office.
Over the weekend, the president-elect suggested that Putin is keen to begin discussions aimed at ending the war.
“President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible,” Trump said during remarks at Turning Point’s AmericaFest convention on Sunday.
“So we have to wait for this, but we have to end that war. That war is horrible, horrible.”
The Washington Post reported last month that Trump had his first conversation with Putin shortly after his win over Vice President Kamala Harris.
During the call, Trump is said to have warned Putin against escalating the situation in Ukraine.
However, both Putin and the Kremlin have denied that such a call ever occurred.
Putin Still Adamant
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Putin emphasized that he would not be the weaker leader in any potential meeting with Trump, but he remains open to reaching an agreement if the two sides engage in talks.
“I believe that Russia has become significantly stronger in the past two or three years,” he argued. “Why? Because we are becoming a truly sovereign country, and we barely depend on anybody.
“We are strengthening our defense capability. The combat readiness of the Russian Armed Forces is the highest in the world today. I assure you it is the highest,” Putin claimed, pointing to recent Russian advances in Ukraine.
“Politics is the art of compromise. We have always said that we are ready for both negotiations and compromises,” he said of potential peace talks with Trump.
“The problem is that the opposing side, both literally and figuratively, rejected negotiations,” the Russian leader argued. “We, on the contrary, have always been willing to talk, and talking always leads to finding a compromise.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who last met with Trump on December 7 in Paris, has indicated a willingness to relinquish some territory to Russia if it would help bring the war to a close following Trump’s electoral win.
At a press conference in Palm Beach, Florida, last week, Trump suggested he had already made “a little progress” in efforts to mediate a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia. However, he acknowledged that the conflict in Ukraine would be “more challenging” to resolve than the ongoing crises in the Middle East.
“It’s a tough one. It’s a nasty one,” Trump said of the war in Ukraine.
