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Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Friday that he is open to discussions with U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Ukraine. Putin complimented Trump, calling him a “smart” leader and suggested that his involvement could have potentially averted the conflict that erupted in 2022. Kyiv swiftly responded, issuing a warning against any attempts to exclude Ukraine from the negotiation process.
While Russian President Putin did not specify when talks would take place, the Kremlin indicated that it was still awaiting “signals” from Washington. This came despite U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement on Thursday that he was ready to meet with Putin “immediately.”
“We have always said, and I want to emphasise this once again, that we are ready for these negotiations on Ukrainian issues,” Putin told a reporter from Russian state TV.
Vladimir Putin hailed Donald Trump as a “smart” and “pragmatic” figure. He further lent support to Trump’s unverified claim that he had actually won the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which was contested by Joe Biden’s victory.
“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.
Read also: Putin Signals Readiness For Ukraine Negotiations With Trump
The ongoing war in Ukraine, now nearing its third year, has caused relations between the two nuclear powers to deteriorate to Cold War-era lows. Newly sworn-in President Trump has criticized the conflict as “ridiculous” and has threatened Russia with tougher sanctions should it refuse to halt its military campaign.
“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,” the Republican said during a Fox News interview on Thursday.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the same day, Trump said 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 pushed back at Trump’s claim that lower oil prices might expedite the end of the conflict.
“I have a hard time imagining there will be decisions taken that are detrimental to the American economy,” Putin said Friday.
