First contact between Putin and Trump
Russian President, Vladimir Putin, could hold talks with US President-elect, Donald Trump, before his inauguration in January, but the Kremlin chief will not initiate contact, his spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said on Thursday.
Trump, who has secured a second term in the White House, pledged to end the war in Ukraine before being sworn in.
His criticism of outgoing President Joe Biden's support for Ukraine has led Kiev to fear that Washington will suspend arms deliveries, which could weaken Ukraine's defense against Russia's progressive territorial gains.
“It's not out of the question,” Peskov told reporters when asked about possible contact between Putin and Trump ahead of the January 20 inauguration ceremony.
“Mr. Trump said he would call Mr. Putin before the inauguration. Those are his words, we have nothing else to say about it at the moment.”
But he does not know when this first contact will take place.
On Wednesday, Peskov said Putin remained “open” to contact with Trump, but said Russia would not take the first step to re-establish communication.
(MH with FM/Source: The Moscow Times/Photo: Kremlin ru licensed under the creative commons attribution 4.0 license)