Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet President-elect Trump without conditions, the Kremlin said on Friday, but is waiting for more specifics following the U.S. presidential inauguration.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow welcomes Trump’s intentions “to resolve problems through dialogue,” according to a summary of remarks by Russian state news agency, TASS.
The remarks followed Trump telling a meeting of Republican governors that he is working on setting up a meeting with Putin.
Trump has said ending Russia’s war in Ukraine will be a top priority, and talked of meeting Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to come to an agreement to end the war. However, he has seemed to walk back his pledge of ending the war within a day of taking office.
During a press conference on Wednesday, Trump said that Putin wants to meet him and that the two leaders could meet after he is sworn in on Jan 20.
“I know that Putin would like to meet, I don’t think it’s appropriate that I meet until after the 20th,” Trump said during a press conference held at his Florida residence, Mar-A-Lago.
Trump reportedly spoke with Putin multiple times while out of office, according to journalist Bob Woodward. And the Washington Post reported shortly after November’s election that Trump spoke to Putin and asked him not to escalate the war. The Kremlin denied both reports.
Trump’s choice for special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Retired Lt. Gen Keith Kellogg, said he is working to “set the conditions” for the president-elect to meet Putin and Zelensky.
“I think they’re going to come to a solvable solution in the near term. And when I say near term, let’s set it at 100 days and move our way back,” Kellogg said in an interview with Fox News, earlier this week.
Zelensky, during a wide-ranging interview with the podcaster Lex Friedman earlier this week, said he is not opposed to dialogue to end the war with Russia, but said Ukraine needs to be in a strong position to compel Putin to come to a resolution.
Zelensky called it naive to say that Putin wants to finish the war, and urged Trump to demonstrate strength in any talks with the Russian leader.
“I think that President Trump not only has will… he has enough power to pressure him, to pressure Putin – not into wanting to stop it,” Zelensky said. “No, he [Putin] will not want to. To pressure him to actually stop it, that is the difference.”
