Russia sees little chance of making a deal with Donald Trump, but Moscow is preparing for future talks between President Vladimir Putin and the new US president, a Russian diplomat in charge of Russian-US relations said on Wednesday.
In his inaugural address, Trump said God saved him from an assassin’s bullet in June to “make America great again” and promised to make the United States “far more extraordinary than ever before.”
Since taking office, Trump has said he wants to end the war in Ukraine and would likely impose sanctions on Russia if Putin refuses to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, who oversees relations with the US and arms control, told a prominent Russian institute for US-Canada affairs that the possibility exists, but it is small.
Compared to the hopelessness in every aspect of the previous White House chief (President Joe Biden), today there is a possibility, albeit a small one – Ryabkov told the Institute for American and Canadian Studies in Moscow.
Therefore, it is important to understand what and with whom we will have to deal, how best to build relations with Washington, how best to increase opportunities and minimize risks – Ryabkov said, as reported by Interfax.
Putin has repeatedly stated that he is ready to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, but that the current Russian control over 20 percent of Ukrainian territory will have to be accepted and that Ukraine must remain neutral.
Ryabkov was later quoted by the state news agency TASS as saying that Russia was preparing for contacts between Putin and Trump, but that nothing had been agreed upon yet.
“Probably when we hear something clearer and more concrete from Washington, then we will start to coordinate the schedule and organizational points,” Ryabkov said, as reported by Reuters.
