Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump are set to meet for summit talks within the next few days, a high-stakes diplomatic engagement that could have significant implications for the war in Ukraine and the broader landscape of international relations.
The Kremlin confirmed the plans on Thursday, signaling a rapid move towards the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders.
A summit takes shape: venue agreed, agenda in the works
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov announced to reporters that Russia and the United States have already agreed on a venue for the summit.
“Together with our American colleagues, we are starting to work on specific issues,” Ushakov said, according to the Interfax news service.
He stated that the goal is for the talks to take place as early as next week, though he did not identify the specific location where the summit will be held.
This face-to-face meeting would be a landmark event, the first between a sitting US and Russian president since Joe Biden met with President Putin in Geneva in June 2021.
That previous summit took place just eight months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an act that triggered the largest attack on a European nation since World War II and fundamentally reshaped global geopolitics.
The Zelenskyy factor: a potential three-way dialogue?
The potential for a breakthrough on the Ukraine front appears to be a central, albeit complex, element of this diplomatic push.
In a sign of the deep animosity that has characterized the conflict, President Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have not met since December 2019 and have made no secret of their mutual contempt.
However, The New York Times has reported that President Trump told European leaders during a call on Wednesday that he intends to meet with President Putin first, and then follow up with a trilateral meeting that would also include the Russian leader and President Zelenskiy.
This suggests a potential, albeit ambitious, multi-stage peace initiative.
President Trump himself has signaled his willingness to engage. “There’s a good chance that there will be a meeting very soon,” he told reporters.
The White House has confirmed the president’s openness to these discussions.
“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy,” stated White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, confirming the potential for a dual-track diplomatic effort aimed at addressing the long-running conflict.
The world will now be watching closely to see if this flurry of diplomatic activity can translate into a tangible path towards peace.
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