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Russian President Vladimir Putin said yes ready and willing to meet with President-elect Trump if he “wants it” after four years of no communication.
“What can I offer President-elect Trump when we meet? First of all, I don’t know when we will meet because he is not saying anything about it,” Putin said Thursday morning during a news conference on state-sponsored television.
“I haven’t spoken to him for more than four years and I’m ready, of course, at any time,” he added. “I’ll be ready for a meeting if he wants.”
He added that he and Trump, who have done it often promoted their relationship with the Russian leader — he would have “a lot to talk about”.
Putin told reporters that while some in the US may see Russia in a “weakened position” amid its nearly three-year war with Ukraine, he has a “different point of view.”
“I think Russia has gotten a lot stronger over the last two or three years. Why? Because we’re becoming a truly sovereign country,” he said at the year-end press conference. “We no longer depend on anyone.”
despite criticism of the war and land-grabbing efforts, Putin said he was open to negotiations that would require compromise.
“Politics is the art of compromise. And we have always said that we are ready for both negotiations and compromises”, he said.
“It’s just that the opposing side, in the literal and figurative sense of the word, refused to negotiate. And we are always ready for that,” the Russian leader said. “The result of these negotiations is always a compromise.”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte does also strongly defended for Ukraine to engage Russia in peace-oriented talks, but suggested that the nation do so once it is in a position of power on the battlefield
“I would say let’s not have all these step-by-step discussions about what a peace process could look like,” Rutte said earlier this month.
“Make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to be in a position of strength when these peace talks begin, when the Ukrainian government has decided that it is ready to do that,” he added.
It is unclear whether Trump will agree to a meeting with Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine before his inauguration, although the president-elect has met with foreign leaders in recent weeks, including inviting them to his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida
