President Vladimir Putin has expressed his willingness to discuss the war in Ukraine with US President Donald Trump, following Trump’s warning that Russia must end the war quickly or face “high levels of taxes, tariffs, and sanctions.”
In his first comments since Trump’s threat, Putin stated he is open to negotiations. Speaking to a Russian state TV journalist, he said: “We believe the current president’s statements about his readiness to work together. We are always open to this and ready for negotiations. It would be better for us to meet, based on the realities of today, to talk calmly.”
Putin described his relationship with Trump as “businesslike, pragmatic, and trustworthy,” adding, “He is not only a smart person, but a pragmatic person. I have a hard time imagining there will be decisions taken that are detrimental to the American economy.”
However, he noted that negotiating with Ukraine is complicated by the fact that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signed a decree prohibiting talks with Putin.
Putin also suggested that the war in Ukraine could have been avoided if Trump had not been “robbed of the election” in 2020. “I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president, if his victory had not been stolen from him in 2020, then perhaps there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that arose in 2022,” Putin said.
