The presidents of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the United States, Donald Trump, addressed on Monday by phone the possibility of raising the level of representation in the next round of peace negotiations with Ukraine, according to Kremlin.
“In particular, the idea was discussed that the possibility of raising the level of representation of the Ukrainian and Russian parties could be studied, that is, of those representatives who participate in the direct conversations,” said Yuri Ushakov, presidential advisor for international policy, to local media.
Ushakov, who said that the conversation lasted for 40 minutes, did not mention a future summit between the Russian leader and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski.
For his part, Trump claimed to have already begun to organize this meeting between Putin and Zelenski, which the Kremlin considers illegitimate president since May 2024.
The Kremlin has always maintained that Putin has nothing to negotiate separately with Zelenski and that he would only meet him to seal a definitive peace agreement.
During his conversation, the US president informed his Russian colleague about the result of the meeting he held on Monday with the Ukrainian president and the main European leaders, who debated, among other things, the security guarantees for kyiv.
In turn, Putin thanked Trump for his “hospitality” during the recent Alaska Summit and highlighted the importance of the “efforts” of the White House chief to achieve a “lasting arrangement in Ukraine.”
As happened in March 2022, the Russian delegation in the last three rounds of negotiations held in Istanbul has been headed by Vladimir Medinski, Putin advisor for cultural affairs.
Medinski’s choice was highly criticized by both Ukraine and the European Union and NATO, considering that it demonstrated Kremlin’s lack of will to reach a peace agreement.
The first three rounds only resulted in the exchange of prisoners of war and corpses, but at no time the political aspect of the conflict was treated in depth.
Putin, who maintains his demand for the Ukrainian army to withdraw his troops from Donbás, had expressed his confidence in celebrating the next summit with Trump in Moscow.
