For the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the start of Trump’s new term, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke face-to-face. They held a joint conference and both agreed that these talks were a beginning, with Trump stating that he expects to see Putin again soon.
They did not reveal what they directly discussed, did not mention a ceasefire, and did not answer journalists’ questions.
After about three hours of talks, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump announced a conference. Analysts said the conference would be earlier than they expected, and the assumption was that they would not hear anything that could end the war in Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin spoke first.
He said the talks were constructive.
Putin: We want to establish a fair balance of security
Putin spoke about the history of Russia and the US, especially concerning Alaska, which was once part of Russia.
“It is quite logical for us to meet here, because our countries, although separated by oceans, are actually close neighbors. And when we met, coming out of the plane, I said: ‘Good day, dear neighbor, it is very nice to see you alive and in good health.’ We are separated only by the Bering Strait, and even then, there are only four kilometers between the Russian and American islands,” Putin said.
He added that the meeting between him and Trump should have happened long ago.
Putin said that, however strange it sounds, they consider Ukraine a brotherly country and want an end to the war.
“At the same time, we are convinced that for a solution to be permanent and long-term, we must eliminate all the fundamental roots, the fundamental causes of that conflict. And we have said this many times, to take into account all of Russia’s legitimate concerns and to re-establish a fair balance of security in Europe and in the world as a whole,” Putin said.
He also touched on economic issues, saying that Russia and the US have a lot to offer each other and that it is time to turn a new page.
Putin thanked Trump.
“I wanted to remind you that in 2022, I tried to warn my former American colleague that the situation should not be brought to a boiling point. And that it would be a mistake. Today, President Trump told me that if he had been the President of the US, there would have been no war. President Trump and I had a business-like meeting,” he said.
Trump: I’ll call NATO and Zelenskyy; they’ll have to agree
Donald Trump thanked Putin and said they had made excellent progress today.
“I’ll call NATO, in a little while, I’ll call various people I consider appropriate, and of course, I’ll call President Zelenskyy and tell him about today’s meeting. In the end, it’s up to them. They’ll have to agree with what Marco (Rubio) and Steve (Witkoff) and some of the great people from the Trump administration who came here, Scott (Besent) and John Ratcliffe, thank you very much. But we have some of our truly great leaders. They’re doing a phenomenal job. We also have some incredible Russian business representatives here. And I think, you know, everyone wants to cooperate with us. We have become the most popular country anywhere in the world in a very short time. And we look forward to that. We look forward to the negotiations. We will try to finish this. We really made great progress today,” Trump said.
He said that the “Russian hoax” (allegations that Russia worked on Trump’s election in the previous term) weakened the ties between the two countries and the two of them.
“So, just to be brief, I will start making a few phone calls and telling them what happened. But we had an extremely productive meeting, and many points were agreed upon. Only a few remain. Some are not so significant. One is probably the most significant. But we have a very good chance of getting there. We didn’t get there, but we have a very good chance of getting there.”
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“I would like to thank President Putin and his entire team, whose faces I know in many cases. You’re almost as famous as your boss. But we have had some good meetings over the years, haven’t we? But let’s have the most productive one right now. We wanted to prevent five, six, seven thousand people a week from being killed. And President Putin wants to see that as much as I do. So, once again, Mr. President, I would like to thank you very much, and we will be talking to you soon, and we will probably see each other again soon,” he said.
In English, Putin said, “Maybe next time in Moscow.”
“Oh, that’s interesting. I’ll get a little bit of criticism for that, but I can imagine that it could happen,” Trump said.
Source: N1 Photo: AP (Jae C.Hong, Julia Demaree Nikhinson)