The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia remains open to a meeting between President Vladimir V. Putin and President-elect Donald J. Trump, but that any concrete steps to begin such talks could only be made when Mr. Trump in office on January 20th.
Responding to the comments made on Thursday by Mr. Trump, who said Mr. Putin wants to meet him to discuss the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin spokesman confirmed Russia’s long-standing official position that Moscow is ready to talk.
“We need mutual desire and political will to engage in dialogue,” Dmitry S. told reporters. Peskov, Kremlin spokesman. “We see that Mr. Trump also states his readiness to resolve the issues through dialogue. We welcome it.”
Mr. Peskov added that the Kremlin’s understanding is that there is “mutual readiness to meet,” but, he said, “it seems that things will begin to change after Trump enters the Oval Office.”
Mr. Peskov did not confirm that Mr. Putin requested a meeting with Mr. Trump or what is being made, as Mr. Trump on Thursday night.
While asserting its territorial claim over its five regions in Ukraine, the Kremlin insists it would prefer diplomacy to war.
Ukraine and some of its Western allies questioned Russia’s seriousness in offering to negotiate and said the Kremlin’s terms actually represented a demand for Ukraine to capitulate.
After being largely isolated from the West for nearly three years since the invasion of Ukraine, a meeting with the US president would be an opportunity for Mr. Putin to negotiate with a friendlier American administration.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said he could resolve the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of taking office, without saying how, but this week suggested it could take up to six months.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said he agreed with the Russian position that Ukraine should never join NATO, one of the Kremlin’s key conditions for ending the war.
The victory of Mr. Trump in November sparked a wave of restrained optimism that the war could end soon, even in a shaky ceasefire. But analysts said the process would be tough and tedious, and many in Ukraine and elsewhere fear that Mr. Trump may want to go ahead with a deal at the expense of his capitulation.
In Russia, Giorgy Bovt, a political analyst, said that if a meeting between Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin becomes too early, when “the conditions for peace are not yet ripe,” could “lead to greater escalation.”
“Both warring parties are still betting on continued military action,” wrote Mr. Bovt in a post on Telegram, a popular messaging app. “They don’t consider their powers exhausted.”
Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, wrote on social media that “the higher the expectations” of the meeting “the more dangerous the game, especially for Trump.”
