Kremlin welcomes possibility of meeting between Trump, Putin

WASHINGTON: The Kremlin has welcomed US President-elect Donald Trump’s readiness to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior Moscow official said on Friday.

Russia attaches no conditions to the possibility of face-to-face talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters during a conference call.

Trump said on Thursday that “Putin wants to meet” and that a meeting is being set up. He indicated that efforts to end the almost three-year war between Russia and Ukraine were behind the overtures for talks. “We have to get that war over with,” Trump said when referring to his possible

meeting with Putin.

Trump, who has criticised US aid for Ukraine’s war effort, has called Putin “pretty smart” for invading Ukraine and has praised Russia’s military record in historical conflicts. Putin has been accused of war crimes by the International Criminal Court. Ukrainian officials are alarmed at the possibility that the US, its single biggest donor, could reduce or stop providing aid. Without Western support, its fight against Russia’s invasion could be doomed.

The outgoing Biden administration is providing Ukraine with as much military support as it can, including approving a new USD 500 million package of weapons, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.

“We are aware that the (Biden) administration will try to leave as difficult legacy in bilateral relations as possible for Trump and his team,” Peskov said. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy stated that Europe alone cannot guarantee Ukraine’s security against Russia, urging joint security guarantees from the US and Europe. Following talks in Germany, Ukraine secured USD 2 billion in military aid. Additionally, Ukraine received three billion Euros from frozen Russian assets as part of the

ERA initiative.