U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he anticipates meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia, marking their first meeting since Trump took office. Although a specific date for the meeting “hasn’t been set,” Trump mentioned it would occur “in the not-too-distant future.” He indicated that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman might be involved in the discussions. “We know the Crown Prince, and I believe it would be a great location to meet.”
Trump made these comments after an almost 90-minute phone call with Putin, during which they discussed the resolution of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“We ultimately expect to meet. In fact, we expect that he’ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re gonna meet also probably in Saudi Arabia the first time, we’ll meet in Saudi Arabia, see if we can get something something done,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also announced on Wednesday that Putin had invited Trump and members of his administration to Moscow to discuss Ukraine, Reuters reported.
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Putin’s invitation extended
When asked if Ukrainian President Zelensky would attend the meeting with Putin, Trump implied that Zelensky would likely not be present for their initial discussion: “We’ll probably have a first meeting, and then we can determine what to do for the second meeting.”
“I would consider going, definitely,” he added.
Peskov noted, “The Russian president has invited the U.S. president to Moscow and expressed his willingness to welcome American officials to discuss areas of mutual interest, particularly regarding the situation in Ukraine.”
This invitation came after Trump declared on Wednesday that peace talks would commence “immediately” and suggested that Ukraine might not regain its lost territories, leading to backlash on both sides of the Atlantic.
The last U.S. president to visit Russia was Barack Obama in 2013 for a G20 summit, while Putin last traveled to the United States in 2015 for United Nations discussions.
