Moscow is working to arrange a face-to-face meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov announced on Feb. 22.
In remarks he shared with Russian state media, Ryabkov indicated that efforts to arrange the meeting have begun in earnest but will require “the most intensive preparatory work.”
The Russian official said U.S. and Russian envoys could meet “within the next two weeks” to lay the groundwork for the eventual talks between the two leaders.
If Washington and Moscow can arrange for the two leaders to meet, it will be the first time that a U.S. president and a Russian president met directly since June 2021, when Putin met with then-President Joe Biden in Geneva.
It would also be the first in-person meeting between the leaders of the United States and Russia since Moscow’s troops marched on Ukraine three years ago.
The Ukraine conflict has strained already contentious U.S.–Russia relations. The United States has been Ukraine’s foremost supporter, providing the most funding for Ukraine-related assistance of any country that has supported Kyiv throughout the conflict.
The Trump administration has sought to pair negotiations for a peace settlement in the Ukraine conflict with a broader effort to improve U.S.–Russia relations.
A U.S. delegation composed of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House national security adviser Mike Waltz, and special presidential envoy Steve Witkoff met with a Russian delegation in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Feb. 18 as part of the ongoing Trump administration efforts to reestablish regular dialogue with Moscow.
Following the Riyadh meeting, Rubio announced that both delegations had agreed to appoint high-level teams to work together to settle the Ukraine conflict. Rubio also said the two delegations agreed to establish a mechanism to address strains in U.S.–Russia relations and lay the groundwork for possible future cooperation between the two countries on areas of shared geopolitical and economic interests.
In his remarks to the press after the Riyadh meeting, Rubio said cooperation between the United States and Russia on geopolitical and economic issues would be contingent on a successful and enduring peace settlement in the Ukraine conflict.
In a Feb. 20 interview, journalist Catherine Herridge asked Rubio what the potential timeline is for a sit-down meeting between Trump and Putin. Rubio responded: “There isn’t going to be a meeting until we know what the meeting is going to be about.
“I think when that meeting happens will largely depend on whether we can make any progress on ending the war in Ukraine, and if we can and that meeting is what seals the deal.”
At the White House on Feb. 21, Trump faced questions from the press about his comment that Zelenskyy was a dictator and whether he should apply the same label to Putin. Trump didn’t directly answer the question but instead said Putin and Zelenskyy should eventually engage with one another more directly as part of the effort to reach a peace settlement.
“I think that President Putin and President Zelenskyy are going to have to get together because, you know what, we want to stop killing millions of people,” Trump said.
Twice during his remarks on Feb. 21, Trump denied reports that he plans to travel to Moscow to meet with Putin on May 9.
