Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump in China during talks with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg. According to Reuters, the proposal was made at a time when the Kremlin is again discussing the possibility of Putin, Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping holding trilateral talks on the sidelines of the APEC forum in China in November.
Putin and Witkoff focused on the war in Ukraine, energy supplies and prospects for restoring economic relations between Russia and the United States. The Russian president has stated that Moscow is interested in restoring economic cooperation and is ready to supply larger quantities of fertilizers to the US market.
According to Putin, diesel prices have fallen by 5-6% since the supply agreement between Russia and the US was signed. Witkoff thanked the Russian president on behalf of Trump for the agreement.
Talks on Ukraine and Iran
Putin pointed out that Trump had stressed the need to end the conflict in Ukraine in order to stop further loss of life. The US envoy, for his part, described the talks on Ukraine held in Oslo on Tuesday as “productive“.
“There is a significant basis for moving towards ending the conflict in Ukraine“, said Steve Witkoff.Putin also said that he wanted to hear Trump's assessment of the situation around Iran. According to him, Russia is ready to help resolve the conflict.
Possible resumption of trilateral talks
Witkoff expressed hope that Putin would consider resuming trilateral talks between Russia, the US and Ukraine. According to him, technical issues related to ending the war could be discussed in this format.
This is separate from the discussed possible meeting between Putin, Trump and Xi Jinping in China. The trilateral talks on Ukraine would involve Russia, the US and Ukraine itself, while the proposal for a meeting in China involves talks between the leaders of Russia, the US and China. Whether any of these meetings will take place still depends on subsequent political coordination.
Sources: reuters.com, aa.com.tr