U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin at a joint press conference after their summit on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki, Finland.
Chris McGrath | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The Kremlin said Thursday that a meeting between presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin has been agreed in principle and will happen in the “coming days.”
Trump revealed a day before that he was hopeful of a meeting with his Russian counterpart in an attempt to end the war in Ukraine. It would be his first in-person discussion with Putin during his second term.
“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement in principle was made to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days,” Putin’s longtime foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, told state media.
The comments came on the eve of Trump’s deadline ultimatum to Putin, challenging him to end the war in Ukraine or face tough new economic sanctions.
In recent weeks, the American leader has adopted far tougher language than his historical warmth toward his Russian opposite number — decrying Russia’s continued bombing of Ukrainian civilians and pledging arms sales to Ukraine via Europe.
Amid that hardening stance, Wednesday saw Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, enjoying a cordial visit to Moscow with Putin and his close friend and investment chief, Kirill Dmitriev.
Following that trip, Trump said he was hopeful not only of meeting Putin but that he could broker a three-way summit between the pair and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ushakov downplayed the chances of this, however.
He said this idea “for some reason was mentioned by Washington yesterday” but “not specifically discussed,” and the Russian side had “left this option completely, completely without comment.”
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