Putin praises Trump peace efforts ahead of Alaska summit
The Vladimir Putin of Russia looked positive Thursday on the eve of his talks with President Donald Trump in Alaska, saying that he thought that the American chief made “fairly energetic and sincere efforts” towards peace in Ukraine.
A day before their summit, Putin summoned a meeting of advisers “to inform you of how the negotiation process on the Ukrainian crisis is taking place,” said Kremlin in a reading translated by NBC News.
The Russian chief said that the Trump administration “made, in my opinion, fairly energetic and sincere efforts to stop fighting, stop the crisis and reach agreements that interest all parties involved in this conflict”.
These efforts aim “to create long-term conditions of peace between our countries and in Europe, and in the world as a whole,” he added, in particular if the negotiations have extended to cover the strategic treaties of offensive weapons.
This suggests that an agreement on nuclear weapons control could be part of the talks. Russia suspended its participation in the new agreement “reduction of strategic offensive weapons” in 2023.
Earlier Thursday, Putin Yuri Ushakov’s help said that the summit would start with tête-à-tête talks between Trump, Putin and their translators at 11:30 am, local time (3.30 p.m.) and would be followed by a joint press conference. The White House later confirmed the joint press conference.
The high -level Russian delegation will include Putin, USHAKOV, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrei Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Soluanov and Putin’s long -standing friend and investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, Ushakov said in a call with journalists in Moscow.
The main subject of the meeting will be Ukraine, he said, but he added that it expected that “enormous and unfortunately unexploited, potential” of economic ties between the United States and Russia, would also be discussed.
In addition to the openly declared objective of Putin to submit Ukraine, he also wants to put an end to the exile of Russia of the Western financial system following economic sanctions imposed by Washington, the European Union and others. Trump has not yet lifted these punishment but has expressed the desire to end the status of economic pariah of Russia.
The Trump-Putin summit has aroused howls of dismay and anxiety through Ukraine and Europe, which have not been invited to talks and fear what the American president can agree with his Russian counterpart on the conflict that rages on their continent.
They were confined to their own diplomatic scrambling, including dozens of calls between Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and other leaders, leading to a video call between these parties and Trump himself on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy said Putin “bluff” saying he wanted peace.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian chief flew to London and met his British counterpart Keir Starmer for what called both a “productive meeting”. In addition to the prospect of funding the small drones that have become at the heart of the defense of the battlefield of Ukraine, the couple discussed talks in Alaska, “who present a viable chance to progress as long as Putin takes measures to prove that he is serious about peace,” said a statement.
After Wednesday’s call with Zelenskyy, Starmer and others, Trump said that he had assured them that there would be “very serious consequences” – without elaborating what it could be – if Putin did not accept to end the war during their seated discussion.
Two European officials and three other people informed the call of NBC News that he had told them that he would not discuss the possible divisions of territory with the man who was flying from the Kremlin.
