Trump not 'wasting time' with Putin as Kremlin envoy visits US / Photo: © AFP/File
Trump not 'wasting time' with Putin as Kremlin envoy visits US
US President Donald Trump on Saturday played down prospects of a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin anytime soon, even as a top Kremlin negotiator huddled for talks with US officials on ending the war in Ukraine.
"I'm going to have to know that we're going to make a deal. I'm not going to be wasting my time," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he headed to Asia, days after plans for a summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed.
"I've always had a great relationship with Vladimir Putin, but this has been very disappointing," Trump said. "I thought this would have gotten done before peace in the Middle East."
The president's comments came as Kremlin negotiator Kirill Dmitriev met with Trump administration officials Friday and Saturday, a Russian source familiar with the talks told AFP. Talks were expected to continue Sunday.
Dmitriev met Saturday in Florida with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff, US media reported.
Dmitriev told CNN in an interview Friday a diplomatic solution to the conflict in Ukraine was within reach, after Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said he backed Trump's proposal to make the current frontline the basis for negotiations with Russia.
"I believe Russia and the US and Ukraine actually quite close to a diplomatic solution," Dmitriev told CNN.
"It's a big move by President Zelensky to already acknowledge that it's about battle lines. You know, his previous position was that Russia should leave completely so actually, I think we are reasonably close to a diplomatic solution that can be worked out."
His visit to the United States came after Washington slapped sanctions Wednesday on Russia's two largest oil companies.
Trump had held off pulling the trigger on sanctions against Russia for months, but his patience snapped after plans for the fresh summit with Putin in Budapest collapsed, following failed talks in Alaska in August.
The Republican billionaire has however said he hopes that the sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil are short-lived and that the "war will be settled."
Putin admitted the sanctions were "serious" but insisted they were not enough to significantly damage the Russian economy.
He added that the sanctions were an "unfriendly act" that "does not strengthen Russia-US relations, which have only just begun to recover."
But the Russian leader said he remained open to dialogue with Trump, and Dmitriev said Friday the meeting between the two leaders "will happen, but probably at a later date."
Zelensky called the US sanctions "a strong and much-needed message that aggression will not go unanswered."
The European Union levied tough sanctions on the Russian oil and gas sector in parallel to the US measures.
(W.Budayev--DTZ)
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