Preparations are underway for a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Saturday, marking a clear departure from Western efforts to isolate Moscow over its war in Ukraine.
Speaking to Russian state media, Sergei Ryabkov said a possible Putin-Trump summit could involve broad talks on global issues, not just the war in Ukraine.
“The question is about starting to move toward normalizing relations between our countries, finding ways to resolve the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, Ukraine among them,” he said.
But he said that efforts to organize such a meeting are at an early stage, and that making it happen will require “the most intensive preparatory work."
Ryabkov said that U.S. and Russian envoys could meet “within the next two weeks” to pave the way for further talks between senior officials.
Russian and U.S. representatives meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday agreed to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties, an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under Trump. Senior U.S. officials have suggested Ukraine will have to give up its goals of joining NATO and retaining the 20% of its territory seized by Russia.
After the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the AP that the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies in Washington and Moscow; to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks; and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.
He stressed, however, that the talks — which were attended by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and other senior Russian and U.S. officials — marked the beginning of a conversation, and that more work needs to be done. Lavrov, for his part, hailed the meeting as “very useful.”
No Ukrainian officials were present at the meeting, which came as the beleaguered country is slowly but steadily losing ground against more-numerous Russian troops, three years after Moscow launched an all-out invasion of its smaller neighbor.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks since Kyiv didn’t take part, and he postponed his own trip to Saudi Arabia scheduled for last Wednesday. European allies also have expressed concerns they are being sidelined.
Trump appears to soften Kyiv criticism
Trump on Friday appeared to walk back his earlier comments that falsely blamed Kyiv for starting the war, but he insisted that Zelenskyy and former U.S. President Joe Biden should have done more to come to terms with Putin.
“Russia attacked, but they shouldn’t have let him attack,” he said during a radio interview with Brian Kilmeade of Fox News, referring to the Russian leader.
Russia’s army crossed the border on Feb. 24, 2022, in an all-out invasion that Putin sought to justify by falsely saying it was needed to protect Russian-speaking civilians in eastern Ukraine and prevent the country from joining NATO.
Later on Friday at the Oval Office, Trump told reporters that the war "doesn’t affect the United States very much. It’s on the other side of the ocean. It does affect Europe.”
Marches in London to support Ukraine
Thousands of people waving blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags marched to the Russian Embassy in London on Saturday, demanding Ukraine be given more support and a place at the table in talks to end the three-year war.
Organizers called for the withdrawal of Russian troops and increased military aid to strengthen Kyiv’s hand.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is scheduled to visit Washington next week for talks focused on Ukraine. He has emphasized that no decisions about the country’s future can be made without Kyiv’s involvement.
Starmer spoke with Zelenskyy on Saturday and reiterated “the U.K.’s ironclad support for Ukraine and commitment to securing a just and enduring peace to bring an end to Russia’s illegal war,” the prime minister’s office said.
