The Kremlin on Thursday said that US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are poised to meet as soon as next week as the White House ramps up pressure on Moscow to end its war in Ukraine or face punitive measures targeting its energy trade.
Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said the parties are “initiating preparations” for a meeting of the two leaders in the coming days after Putin met with US special envoy Steve Witkoff at the Kremlin a day earlier.
"At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was coordinated in principle to hold a bilateral summit in the coming days," Ushakov was reported as saying by Russian news agency TASS.
On Wednesday, the White House said that Moscow had asked for the meeting with Trump.
“The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the president is open to meeting with both President Putin and President Zelenskiy," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
