Trump on the timing of the meeting with Putin: As soon as we can organize it
supplementedU.S. President Donald Trump said he would like to meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. as soon as possible, he said during a business roundtable in Abu Dhabi, , according to AFP.
"As soon as there is an opportunity to organize. I was going to do it, I was ready to leave here to go there," he said of the timing of the meeting, but did not disclose any details.
According to New York Post, Trump remains optimistic about the possibility of peace between Ukraine and Russia.
"We will achieve this," he said on May 16 .
ADDED AT 14:35. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on Trump's statement and said that such a meeting is really needed.
"Such a meeting is definitely needed. It is necessary, first of all, from the point of view of bilateral Russian-American relations, and from the point of view of a serious conversation at the highest level on international affairs and regional issues, including, of course, the crisis around Ukraine," he said .
At the same time, Trump's visit to Istanbul is not expected to take place after his working trip to the Middle East. According to Sky News , citing a senior White House official, the US leader is likely to go home to Washington.
- on May 11, Putin offered Ukraine to resume direct talks on May 15 in Istanbul without preconditions. Trump called it "a potentially great day for Ukraine and Russia." But the Russian dictator did not come, and sent a delegation.
- On May 15, Trump said that Putin did not come to the talks in Istanbul because he would not be there, but he did not rule out that he might arrive in Turkey on May 16.
- Secretary of State Rubio said that Putin should personally participate in the negotiations on peace with Ukraine, and that a breakthrough requires a conversation with Trump. The US leader himself said that without his meeting with Putin, there will be no shift in the talks.
- Also, the US called a meeting between Trump and Putin "inevitable", but did not specify the timing.