Russian President Vladimir Putin in fresh Thursday remarks has emphasized that he is ready for a direct conversation with US President-elect Donald Trump at any time and agrees to meet with him when the US side is ready.
"I am ready for this [conversation], of course, at any time. And I will also be ready for a meeting, if he wants it," Putin said at Russia's annual year-end Q&A press conference with the president. He gave this response to an American journalist when asked about a potential future meeting with Trump.
"First of all, I don't know when we will meet with him. Because he doesn't say anything about it. I haven't talked to him at all for more than four years," Putin followed with, acknowledging the unpredictability of the US side's intentions.
The Kremlin has still taken a pessimistic view on the possibility of achieving peace in Ukraine anytime soon, given especially that Western long-range missiles are being used against Russian territory.
According to more of the latest context via TASS:
Earlier, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Moscow is ready for contacts with Washington to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, but has not yet received any serious proposals from Trump's team. According to the diplomat, the Russian Foreign Ministry has recently regularly received many questions about whether Russia is ready to contact Trump and his team.
Trump's pick for national security advisor, Mike Waltz, explained to CBS News at the start of this week, "What does success look like in line with our interests? How do we end the war? Who's at the table? How do we drive, you know, all sides to the table, and what's the framework for an agreement? Those are things that we're thinking through with his fantastic team that he's (Trump) assembling."
He also said that the current Biden administration policy of escalation with no end in sight is a recipe for disaster which could turn the conflict into another "forever war". He said that a "blank check... just isn't a strategy."
And yet it could be President Zelensky himself who stands in the way:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected the prospect of freezing the conflict started by Moscow to facilitate negotiations to end hostilities, telling French daily Le Parisien that Donald Trump "knows about my desire not to rush things at the expense of Ukraine."
Below is the key section of this latest Zelensky interview:
Zelensky told Le Parisien resolving the war was "not easy" and that Trump wanted a peace deal "quickly" but the Ukrainian leader said the Trump team did not yet have access to all the information from diplomatic and intelligence channels.
Zelensky said regardless of what world leaders want, "we are not just going to give in and give up our independence."
"The danger would be to say—we freeze the war and we will come to an agreement with the Russians," he added, noting that Putin "has killed many Ukrainians."
I'm open for a meeting with Trump – Putin pic.twitter.com/UxV4NZB8e6
— RT (@RT_com) December 19, 2024
Freezing the front lines is a central component of what has thus far been reported as 'Trump's peace plan'. Moscow hasn't appeared too keen on it either, and it has less incentive to agree to this, given by all metrics it is winning on the ground in the Donbas.
Still, Trump has pushed forward with his promise to find a swift close to the war which has been raging for about three years. He's vowing to push the warring sides to the negotiating table from his very first day in office.
