Trump
Trump seeks to meet Putin to end Ukraine crisis
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he wanted to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as possible to secure an end to the Russia-Ukraine crisis and expressed a desire to work towards cutting nuclear arms.
In the run-up to his November 5 election victory, Trump declared many times that he would have a deal in place between Ukraine and Russia on his first day in office, if not before. His advisors now concede the war will take months to resolve.
“I really would like to be able to meet with President Putin soon to get that war ended,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos by video link. Later in the day, Trump told reporters at the White House that he was ready to meet with Putin as soon as possible.
“From what I hear, Putin would like to see me, and we’ll leave as soon as we can. I’d meet immediately,” Trump said. He added that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had told him he was ready to make a deal to end the crisis.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is open to dialogue with the new U.S. administration over the Ukraine crisis. “We are open to dialogue with the new U.S. administration on the conflict in Ukraine,” he said, while stressing the importance of eliminating the root causes of the conflict.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened to impose “high levels” of sanctions on Russia and tariffs on imports from there if Moscow did not reach a settlement.
Trump also told reporters on Thursday he wants to work towards cutting nuclear arms. “We’d like to see denuclearization … and I will tell you President Putin really liked the idea of cutting way back on nuclear. And I think the rest of the world, we would have gotten them to follow,” Trump said.
Russia suspended its participation in the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) with the U.S. in February last year. The New START is the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty in force between the two nuclear superpowers. The treaty was extended by five years on February 3, 2021.
In November, U.S. officials said Putin remains within the limits set by the treaty despite his suspension of the pact that holds Russia and the U.S. to deploying 1,550 strategic nuclear warheads on 700 intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines and bombers.
(With input from agencies)