US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Oct 25) played down prospects of a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin anytime soon, even as a top Kremlin negotiator huddled for talks with US officials on ending the war in Ukraine.
“I’m going to have to know that we’re going to make a deal. I’m not going to be wasting my time,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Asia, days after plans for a summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed.
“I’ve always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing,” Trump said. “I thought this would have gotten done before peace in the Middle East.”
The president’s comments came as Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev met with Trump administration officials Friday and Saturday, a Russian source familiar with the talks told AFP. Talks were expected to continue Sunday.
Dmitriev met Saturday in Florida with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, US media reported.
Dmitriev told CNN in an interview Friday a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine was within reach, after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he backed Trump’s proposal to make the current frontline the basis for negotiations with Russia.
“I believe Russia and the US and Ukraine actually quite close to a diplomatic solution,” Dmitriev told CNN.
“It’s a big move by President Zelenskyy to already acknowledge that it’s about battle lines. You know, his previous position was that Russia should leave completely so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out.”
His visit to the United States came after Washington slapped sanctions Wednesday on Russia’s two largest oil companies.
Trump had held off pulling the trigger on sanctions against Russia for months, but his patience snapped after plans for the fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed, following failed talks in Alaska in August.
The Republican billionaire has however said he hopes that the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil are short-lived and that the “war will be settled”.
