By Matthew Atungwu Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Ukraine would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war...
By Matthew Atungwu
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Ukraine
would not be excluded from negotiations to end the war.
However, Putin said the success of the negotiations would
depend on raising the level of trust between Moscow and Washington.
Speaking a day after Russia and the United States held their
first talks on how to end the three-year conflict, Putin also said it would
take time to set up a summit with the US President Donald Trump, which both men
have said they want, adding that there was no point in meeting just to drink
tea.
The Russian leader hailed the result of Tuesday’s meeting in
Saudi Arabia, where his country and the US agreed to appoint negotiating teams
on Ukraine and discussed ways to reset their bilateral relations, which the
Kremlin described as below zero under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden.
“In my opinion, we have taken a first step to resume work in
a variety of areas that are of mutual interest. These included issues relating
to the Middle East, global energy markets and cooperation in space.
“Without increasing the level of trust between Russia and
the United States, it is impossible to resolve many issues, including the
Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said.
Recall that Ukraine and European governments were not
invited to the talks in the Saudi capital, which sparked their concern that
Russia and the United States might cut a deal that ignores their vital security
interests.
However, Putin said Russia had never rejected talks with the
Europeans or with Kyiv, stressing that it was they who had refused to talk to
Moscow.
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