Moscow: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has said that the “very frank and substantive” talk at the Alaska summit with US President Donald Trump on the Ukraine war moved the Kremlin nearer to making a decision.
Briefing his Cabinet and other officials at the Kremlin on Saturday, he said, “The conversation was very frank and substantive, which, in my view, moves us closer towards making necessary decisions.”
An incomplete transcript of the meeting released by the Kremlin did not say if he outlined the needed decisions.
He said that he shared President Trump’s desire to end the Ukraine war as soon as possible and settle all issues.
“We definitely respect the US administration’s position which wants the hostilities to stop as soon as possible,” he added.
“So do we, and we would like to move forward with settling all issues by peaceful means,” he said.
That appeared to be in line with Trump’s new position of wanting a peace agreement to end the war instead of an immediate ceasefire.
Going to Alaska on Friday, the US President said that he wanted a ceasefire “rapidly” and would be “unhappy” if it didn’t happen that day.
After briefing Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders about the summit, he posted on Saturday morning on Truth Social, “It was determined by all that the best way to end the horrific war between Russia and Ukraine is to go directly to a Peace Agreement, which would end the war, and not a mere Ceasefire Agreement, which often times do not hold up.”
Meeting a US President after four years, Putin said that the talks went beyond Ukraine, although the focus was on it.
“We discussed our interactions in virtually all their aspects with a focus, of course, on achieving a fair resolution of the Ukraine crisis,” he added.
Putin’s last meeting with a US President was with Joe Biden in 2021, although he had met with Trump at least six times in his first term.
“We did not have direct talks at this level for a long time. Let me reiterate: We had a chance to convey our position in a calm and detailed manner,” he said.
Trump said at the news conference after the summit that a couple of things were holding up an agreement and “one is probably the most significant”.
He has not said what it was, but a Russian expert on the US quoted by the official news agency Tass speculated that it “may involve territorial concessions by Ukraine”.
Based on his reading of Trump’s post-summit interview with Fox News, Malek Dudakov said, “Essentially, he is shifting this burden onto Kyiv and hinting that any forthcoming agreement with Russia will likely not favour Ukraine.”
“Expecting a single meeting to resolve all the complexities between Moscow and Washington was unrealistic,” Tass quoted him as saying.
The summit’s venue of Alaska carried symbolism as the territory had once belonged to Russia and was sold by Czar Alexander II to the US for $7.2 million in 1867, and was made the 49th State in 1959.
While Trump jetted off to Washington shortly after the summit, Putin stayed back to visit the graves of Soviet service personnel, who had died during World War II, when the US and the Soviet Union were allies.
Alaska has the remnants of an ethnic Russian community and Putin met with Archbishop Alexei of Sitka of the Russian Orthodox Church, according to his press office.
(IANS)
