Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said Friday he is willing to discuss a truce in the war against Ukraine with newly reelected U.S. President Donald Trump, suggesting a meeting between the two leaders could be beneficial, The Guardian reported.
Following Trump’s election in 2022, Putin has echoed the Republican’s claim that he would have prevented the war in Ukraine if he had won.
“I cannot but agree with him that if he had been president—if his victory hadn’t been stolen in 2020—then maybe there would not have been the crisis in Ukraine that emerged in 2022,” Putin told reporters.
Putin told Russian media he welcomed Trump’s willingness to negotiate a deal to end the war, despite Trump threatening to impose economic sanctions on Russia if the fighting continues.
“We are always open to this and ready for negotiations; it would be better for us to meet, based on the realities of today, to talk calmly,” Putin said. Earlier this week, Trump said on Truth Social that he is ready to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We can do it the easy way or the hard way—and the easy way is always better,” Trump wrote.
Despite Trump’s threats to escalate economic pressure on Russia’s strained economy, Putin commended his relationship with the former U.S. president as “businesslike, pragmatic, and trustworthy.”
He added that negotiations with Ukraine have become complicated after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a decree preventing him from negotiating with Putin.