Putin-Trump meeting is possible this month but may be later, Kremlin says
(VOVWORLD) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump could meet this month, although the first face-to-face encounter between a Russian and a US leader since 2021 could take longer to prepare, the Kremlin said on Wednesday.
Trump said on Tuesday he would probably meet Putin this month and dismissed Ukraine's concern about being left out of US-Russian talks in Saudi Arabia, while suggesting Kyiv could have reached a deal with Russia earlier.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the meeting in Riyadh was focused mostly on Russian-US bilateral ties but that it was a "very, very important step" towards reaching a settlement on the Ukraine conflict, nearing the end of its third year.
Putin and Trump's predecessor Joe Biden held a summit in Geneva in June 2021. That was the most recent time a US and Russian leader met face to face, though Biden and Putin had a call in February 2022 and messages were passed via intermediaries.