Putin wants to meet Trump, but does Trump want to meet Putin?
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump is "necessary in many ways" but has not been scheduled yet, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
"Such a meeting is clearly on the radar," he added.
'It must be prepared appropriately, and this requires efforts at a variety of expert levels," Peskov said.
But what does "efforts" encompass? First and foremost, the Kremlin's commitment to a ceasefire in its war against Ukraine, says Kurt Volker, former US special representative for Ukraine negotiations under Trump.
In an interview with Euronews from the Kyiv Security Forum, Volker said the US president would want to meet his Russian counterpart, but only after a ceasefire in Ukraine was in place.
"(Trump) wants to end the war, and then he would like to rebuild a relationship with Russia. He thinks that you could reintegrate Russia into a global economy, you could do business deals with Russia, but Putin has to stop the war first," Volker explained.
"And as Putin is not doing that, the prospects for a Trump-Putin meeting are looking further and further away.'
Volker served as Washington's Ukraine negotiator between 2017 and 2019, when Putin and Trump had their last meetings in Helsinki and then at the G20 gathering in Osaka.
Volker says that the Russian president is "trying to play to the ego of President Trump by saying, ok, we can sit down man to man, we can work this out."
At the start of his second term, Trump said he would meet Putin "very quickly" after taking office.
'I think President Trump in some ways sees himself as a strong figure able to do that. But he is not happy with Putin failing to end the war. And I that is where this idea of a meeting simply not going to happen unless the circumstances change', Volker said.
Volker told Euronews there has consequently been a significant change of heart in Washington regarding Putin's willingness to halt his war against Ukraine. 'It is clear that the US and Ukraine are in alignment in calling for a full ceasefire for 30 days. And that's a stepping-tone to a permanent ceasefire. And Putin is mocking that.'
'He's not serious about actually stopping the fighting. And you do pick up the sense now in Washington that people are recognising that and calling Putin out, if you will, saying that Russia is demanding too much and they are not accepting a ceasefire,' Volker pointed out.
Instead, the Russian president announced a three-day "unilateral ceasefire" to protect and secure the Victory Day parade in Moscow on Friday.
'Putin is not serious about a ceasefire. He's not serious about stopping his attacks. I think he wants to make a political gesture here, especially as it aligns with his military parade in Moscow', Volker said, adding that he would be "surprised if he respects even his own ceasefire."
The US Vice President JD Vance admitted this week that the talks to put an end to Russia's war against Ukraine are nowhere near Washington's initial expectations.
'Right now, the Russians are asking for a certain set of requirements, a certain set of concessions in order to end the conflict. We think they're asking for too much,' Vance said.
The US administration now can "toughen its rhetoric about Russia's aggression and their unwillingness to have a ceasefire," Volker told Euronews.
This would be the first step followed by "a renewed emphasis on sanctions against Russia," possibly including secondary sanctions "against those who are helping Russia to evade the original sanctions on oil and gas and the financial industry,"
And most importantly, Washington will continue to supply arms to Ukraine. 'It won't be taxpayer money. That era of appropriations of just giving taxpayer money to fund Ukraine, I think, is over. But I could see loans for Ukraine, a lend-lease policy as we did for the UK in World War II," he added.
While he didn't rule out seizing frozen Russian assets and using that to pay for arms to Ukraine, "Canada is moving in that direction, and I would not be surprised if the US does as well," Ambassador Volker concluded.
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