Trump ready to meet Putin, possibly next week

In sudden diplomatic acceleration around the war in Ukraine, Donald Trump spoke of a possible meeting “very soon” with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, while maintaining the threat of secondary sanctions targeting Russia.

In the wake of a visit qualified as “productive” of his special emissary in Moscow, the American president judged on Wednesday that there was A good luck there is a meeting very soonwithout giving date or place details.

He answered a question about a possible meeting with the Russian president as well as with the Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky, during an exchange with the press in the oval office.

But it is of course the prospect of a meeting in the flesh with the master of the Kremlin who attracts the most attention, at a time when the tension between Washington and Moscow is clear.

According to the American press, Donald Trump is planning to meet the Russian president in person next week, before a meeting with three with Volodymyr Zelensky.

The last summit in good and due form between Russia and the United States dates back to June 2021, when Joe Biden had met his Russian counterpart in Geneva.

The Democratic President cut the bridges with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but Donald Trump has restored dialogue when he returned to power since January, by means of several telephone exchanges with the Russian president.

The Republican threatened on Wednesday to impose Much more secondary sanctionsthat is to say taxes on products from countries that trade with Russia.

It already announced Thursday to bring taxes to imports from India, due to Indian Russian oil purchases. The objective of such a mechanism is to dry up Russia’s income and thus stop the Russian war machine.

The last flesh meeting between the American leader and Vladimir Putin took place in November 2018 on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Argentina, but it was above all their July 2018 summit in Helsinki who remains in the memories.

Ultimatum

American diplomacy, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday that there was still a lot of work Before a possible new meeting.

He indicated, in an interview with the chain Fox Businessthat Steve Witkoff had returned from Moscow with a cease-fire proposal.

We understand better under what conditions Russia would be ready to stop warsaid the Secretary of State, adding: We must compare this to what Ukrainians and our European allies, but of course in priority the Ukrainians, are ready to accept.

The revival of diplomatic activity occurs two days from the expiration of an ultimatum from the United States to Russia, ordered to end the conflict.

In the immediate future, it is not clear if this ultimatum, at the end of which Washington threatened to deploy secondary customs rights targeting countries buying Russian oil and armaments, is still relevant.

Donald Trump only said that other countries that India could be targeted, including China, without giving specific calendar.

The meeting between Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff lasted almost three hoursaccording to the Russian state news agency Tass.

She was described as very useful and constructive by the diplomatic advisor to the Russian Head of State, Iouri Ouchakov, and very productive by the American president.

After this meeting, Donald Trump spoke on the phone with Volodymyr Zelensky. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, and the secretary general of theTakeMark Rutte, participated in this conversation.

Relations between Russia and the United States have been experiencing a peak tension since last week with the announcement of the deployment of two American nuclear submarines following an online argument with the former Russian head of state, Dmitri Medvedev.

The American president, who promised to quickly end the conflict in Ukraine, expresses his frustration more and more openly with regard to the master of the Kremlin.

The latter, while the Russian offensive continues, so far maintains requirements deemed unacceptable by kyiv.

Russia claims from Ukraine that it gives up to him four partially occupied regions (those of Donetsk, Lougansk, Zaporijia and Kherson), in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014, and that it renounces Western Western Arms and all membership of the Atlantic Alliance.