US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff said that Trump could meet with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin as early as mid-August, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, the US is considering imposing sanctions on countries that trade with Russia.
The meeting between the leaders could be the first time since June 2021 that the heads of state of major powers have met. At that time, eight months before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin met with Joe Biden. Putin last met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in December 2019.
The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders during the call on the 6th of August that he planned to meet with Putin and then hold three-way talks with Zelensky. White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said the Russian side had expressed a desire to meet with Trump, and he was open to meeting with both Putin and Zelensky. The possible meeting was announced after a meeting between Putin and Witkoff. Trump described it as “great progress,” but later added that it did not mean a turning point had been reached in the talks.
The Kremlin called the meeting “useful and constructive.”
The diplomatic maneuvering took place just two days before the deadline for Trump’s promised additional sanctions. The US president has become increasingly irritated by Putin’s reluctance to move towards peace, and has threatened to impose sanctions on countries that buy Russian exports, including oil. “We did it with India. We could do it with a couple of others. China could be one of them,” Trump said.
Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said both sides had hinted that they could discuss Ukraine and had talked about possible strategic cooperation between Moscow and Washington, but he would not provide further details until Witkoff spoke to Trump.
Zelensky said he believed more pressure on Moscow could encourage it to consider a ceasefire.
Trump took a step closer to implementing the sanctions by imposing an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods on the 6th of August, citing New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. It has increased import tariffs on some Indian products by up to 50%, one of the highest the US has imposed on any country. India’s foreign ministry has called the new tariffs “extremely wrong.” The Kremlin, meanwhile, has said that imposing sanctions on its trading partners is illegal.
Read also: Trump envoy meets Putin in Moscow; no end in sight to war
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