‘We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,’ Trump said on Jan. 31. ‘We want to end that war.’
The Kremlin has stated that there has been no progress on organizing the much-anticipated meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin that could be key to ending the Russia-Ukraine war.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, told Russian media on Feb. 3 that there was no new information regarding a potential Trump-Putin meeting. He made the remarks in response to questions about a Reuters
report saying that the Russian side was considering the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia as possible venues for the talks.
“Before discussing a venue for such a meeting, we must first determine what the meeting will be all about. There is no news on that front,” the Kremlin spokesman said,
according to Russian state-run media Tass.
Trump, who said he would broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine after taking office,
announced in early January that his team was working to arrange a meeting with Putin.
Putin has repeatedly
said that Russia is ready for dialogue with the incoming Trump administration on the situation in Ukraine and that the Kremlin is
ready to make some “compromises.” The Russian president has also
expressed confidence that Trump will be able to navigate the complexities of the conflict and create the conditions for a peace deal.
However, Russian officials have repeatedly said no direct contact with the United States has taken place about preparations for a phone call between Trump and Putin, which would precede an eventual meeting between the two leaders.
Switzerland and Serbia—neither of which is a NATO member—have
both offered to host the meeting. Citing anonymous Russian officials, Reuters
reported on Feb. 3 that UAE and Saudi Arabia were also being considered as possible meeting venues. Both Russia and the United States have good diplomatic relations with the two Middle Eastern countries.
Throughout the Ukraine war, Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin Salman, and UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan have stayed neutral, opting not to align with Western sanctions or condemnations of Russia. At the same time, they have continued regular discussions with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Last year, Zelenskyy
floated a “victory plan” that centered on the idea of making significant battlefield gains due in part to the use of Western-supplied weapons to strike deeper inside Russia. Trump has been critical of allowing Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied missiles to strike inside Russia. He appears to favor a negotiated settlement, possibly involving Russia keeping some of the territory it has seized from Ukraine over the course of the nearly three-year-long war.
Trump has appointed retired Gen. Keith Kellogg as his special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. Kellogg’s recommendations for ending the conflict include a formal cease-fire, sanctions relief for Russia to ensure compliance, and bilateral defense agreements to secure Ukraine’s long-term security.
Putin’s demands to end hostilities include Ukrainian troop withdrawals from contested regions, Ukraine’s adoption of a neutral status, “demilitarization” of the country, and the lifting of Western sanctions.
Shortly after taking office, Trump
threatened to impose tariffs and additional sanctions on Russia if Putin didn’t agree to a peace deal “soon.”
More recently, Trump said his administration has already had “very serious” discussions with Russia about the war and that he expects Putin could soon take “significant” action towards ending the conflict.
“We will be speaking, and I think will perhaps do something that’ll be significant,” Trump said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office on Jan. 31. “We want to end that war. That war would not have started if I was president.”
Trump declined to name the officials communicating with Russia and assured that both sides were “already talking.”
