Moscow Hopes for Future Trump–Putin Summit, Kremlin Spokesman Says

Trump and Putin last met in Alaska in August to discuss a path toward the end of war, but the summit concluded without a resolution.

President Donald Trump greets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the tarmac after they arrived at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP

The Kremlin stated on Nov. 17 that it hopes for another summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin once the groundwork has been laid for a productive meeting.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the remarks in response to a question about the conditions necessary for another meeting between the two world leaders to take place.

“We can hardly predict now when these conditions will arise. Although, of course, we are all interested in these conditions occurring sooner rather than later,” Peskov told reporters.

“As soon as this preparation is completed and the conditions for holding the summit are in place, we hope it will take place.”

Trump and Putin last met in Alaska in August to discuss a path toward the end of the war in Ukraine, but the summit concluded without a resolution.

On Oct. 13, Trump said he and Putin were expected to meet again, at some point, in Budapest, Hungary, but those plans were canceled on Oct. 21.

On Oct. 23, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that a future meeting between Trump and Putin was “not completely off the table.”

Lines of communication between Washington and Moscow remain open. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Nov. 9 that he remains in contact, by telephone, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and that both he and Rubio “are prepared to hold in-person meetings whenever necessary.”

‘Concrete Result’ Expected

Last week, Rubio said that there needed to be a “concrete result” expected for the end of the Russia–Ukraine war in order for another meeting to take place between Trump and Putin.

“The way I would characterize it is I think there was agreement on both sides that the next time our presidents meet, there has to be a concrete result. We have to know going in that we have a real chance to get something positive coming out,” Rubio said in response to questions regarding his conversations with Lavrov.

“We’d love to see that happen.

“We’d love to see this war end, but we can’t just continue to have meetings for the sake of meetings. And I think both sides sort of view it that way, at least that’s what I took from our conversations.”

Rubio said that his conversations with Lavrov are always “professional and productive,” but “obviously we want to see results.”

Trump had earlier said that he canceled the Budapest summit because of stalled diplomatic negotiations and limited progress.

“We canceled the meeting with President Putin, it just didn’t feel right to me. It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it, but we’ll do it in the future,” Trump said on Oct. 22.

“I think that, in terms of honesty, the only thing I can say is, every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere. They just don’t go anywhere.”

‘Communications Continue’

On Nov. 16, the Kremlin stated that communications between Moscow and Washington are ongoing and that agreements on a meeting would move political difficulties to the background.

“Communications continue,” Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said, according to state-run Russian news agency TASS. “We are proactively talking on the settlement in Ukraine.

“It seems to me if an agreement in principle is reached between Washington and Moscow concerning the meeting between the leaders in a certain place, then many technical and political difficulties will go to the background.”

On Nov. 16, Trump said he supports proposed legislation to impose sanctions on countries doing business with Russia in order to force Moscow to come to a resolution to the war.

When asked whether it was time for Congress to put pressure on Putin, Trump told reporters: “I hear they’re doing that, and that’s OK with me. The Republicans are putting in legislation—very tough, it’s sanctioning—on any country doing business with Russia.”

Peskov told reporters on Nov. 17 that such a move would go down badly with Moscow.

“We’ll see how this bill progresses and what details are involved,” he said. “We would, of course, take a very negative view of that.”

Jacob Berg and Reuters contributed to this report.