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President-elect Donald Trump said that a meeting is being planned with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the incoming commander-in-chief pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine and a greater presence in the Arctic.
Trump told the press at Mar-a-Lago that Putin “wants to meet and we are setting it up.”
“He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess,” he added.
The Kremlin responded that it was open to having talks but that no specific details had been decided. Trump has long said that he plans to negotiate an end to the conflict and shared deep skepticism of U.S. support for the Ukrainian war effort.
A Ukraine foreign ministry spokesperson said Friday that they expect talks to occur with the Trump administration following the January 20 inauguration, according to the BBC. That would also include a meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Trump has nominated former national security adviser and retired lieutenant-general Keith Kellogg to be the special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. In April last year, Kellogg outlined his thoughts on how the conflict may come to an end in a research paper released by the Trump-supporting think tank the America First Policy Institute.
He suggested that Ukraine should only get additional aid from the Americans if it agreed to take part in talks with the Russians to end the war. But Kellogg also said that the U.S. should continue its funding of the Ukrainian war effort if the Russians refuse to come to the table.
After Trump’s victory in November, Zelensky said he thought the war would “end sooner” than it would have otherwise and that he had had a “constructive exchange” over the phone with him, without sharing if the president-elect had put forward any requirements on talks with Russia.
“We have a lot of meetings set up with a lot of people. But I’d rather wait after the 20th,” Trump said of the possible meeting with Putin.
The Kremlin said Friday that Putin is willing to meet with Trump without any “conditions,” according to the TASS news agency.
“President Putin has repeatedly stated his openness to contacts with international leaders, including the U.S. President and Donald Trump,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to the agency. “No conditions are required for this. What is required is a mutual desire and political will to conduct a dialogue and resolve existing problems through dialogue.”
On Thursday, Peskov said no official requests had been made from the Trump team for a meeting.
“If, after taking office, the political will to resume contacts at the highest level remains, then, of course, President Putin will only welcome this,” Peskov said during a press conference.
While Trump has claimed that he can end the war “in 24 hours,” there are concerns that a quick peace deal will be harmful to the Ukrainians. But on Tuesday, Trump suggested to reporters that six months would be a more realistic timeline.
The Kremlin has claimed that it prefers diplomacy to war even as it pushes on with its territorial claims over five regions in Ukraine, according toThe New York Times.
“We need a mutual desire and political willingness to engage in a dialogue,” Peskov said Friday. “We see that Mr. Trump also declares his readiness to solve issues via dialogue. We welcome that.”
“It looks like things will start to move after Trump enters the Oval Office,” he added.
However, Peskov didn’t confirm that Putin had asked for a meeting with Trump or that one was being planned.
One of the top requirements for Russia to end the war is that Ukraine doesn’t join NATO, and speaking during the press conference on Tuesday, Trump said he was sympathetic to that position.
This comes as Trump continues to push for more control over the Arctic in a showdown with Russia and China. Trump has recently been arguing that the U.S. should purchase Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. This week, Trump declined to rule out military action to acquire Greenland.
“This is not just about Greenland. This is about the Arctic. You have Russia that is trying to become king … It’s oil and gas. It’s our national security. It’s critical minerals,” Trump’s incoming national security adviser said during an appearance on Fox News on Wednesday.
Other Arctic nations are keeping a close eye on the actions of their larger neighbors, with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre reiterating that the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard belongs to Norway and that it’s “safe” during an appearance on the Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
Andreas Østhagen, a researcher at the Oslo Fridtjof Nansen Institute, told Politico that Trump’s statements about taking over Greenland could provoke other countries, such as Russia and China, to view “the use of military force against another country to pursue their national interests as a legitimate means of operations in international affairs.”
“Greenland is quite far away from Russia. I would be more worried about other targets like the Finnish border, the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, or even the maritime boundary between the U.S. and Russia. I think those are more vulnerable […] than Greenland per se,” he added.
Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland led to his son, Don Jr, traveling there this week.
Although footage released from the trip featured locals who were seemingly sympathetic to the MAGA cause, Greenland lawmaker Pipaluk Lynge claimed that the visit was “staged.”
“No journalists were allowed to interview him. It was all staged to make it seem like we — the Greenlandic people — were MAGA and love to be a part of the USA,” Lynge told Politico.
A spokesperson for the son of the president-elect told the outlet that the visit was not staged and that the claim was “ridiculous.”
“We know how they treat the Inuit in Alaska,” Lynge said following the president-elect’s refusal to rule out military action. “Make that great before trying to invade us.”
