Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated US President-elect Donald Trump on his inauguration on Monday, the 20th of January, hours before Trump’s inauguration in Washington, at a meeting of the Russian Security Council broadcast on state television, and said he was ready for dialogue with the new US administration on Ukraine and nuclear weapons, report Reuters and Politico.
Putin said he wanted to ensure lasting, not temporary, peace in Ukraine.
“We see statements by the newly elected US President and members of his team about their desire to restore direct contacts with Russia,” Putin said.
“We also hear his statements about the need to do everything possible to prevent a Third World War. We certainly welcome this attitude and congratulate the newly elected US President on taking office.”
Putin’s statement reflects cautious hopes in Russia that Trump could begin to restore Washington-Moscow relations, which are at their lowest point since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, although many Russian government officials publicly say they are aware that such hopes may prove futile.
Putin, who usually holds Security Council meetings on Fridays rather than Mondays, said Russia was open to talks with the new administration on a range of international issues he considers important, including nuclear weapons, security and the Ukraine conflict.
Putin has said in the past that he is open to talks, however with some “buts”.
“As for the resolution of the situation (in Ukraine) itself, I would like to stress that the goal is not a short ceasefire, not some kind of respite that would allow regrouping and arming forces, but a long-term peace based on respect for the legitimate interests of all people and nations living in the region,” Putin said on Monday.
He also indicated that Moscow was ready to discuss nuclear arms control and broader security issues.
Trump, as the new US president, said in the Oval Office in response to a question about the war in Ukraine that he would meet Putin “very soon” and said Putin was “destroying Russia”
by not reaching an agreement to end the war with Ukraine.
“[Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskyy told me that he wants to make a deal, I don’t know if Putin does… He might not,” Trump said. “I think Russia is in big trouble. Look at their economy, look at inflation in Russia. I got along great with Putin, I hope he wants to make a deal,” he added.
Journalists repeatedly asked Trump about his promises to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and reminded him that he promised to do so on his first day in office.
“I have half a day left,” Trump joked, but then added that he wanted to resolve it soon.
Trump said Putin could not be happy with the slow progress in his war against Ukraine – almost three years after he ordered an all-out assault and 11 years after Russian troops first invaded Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula.
“He is grinding it out. Most people thought it would last about one week, but it’s been three years. It doesn’t make him look good,” Trump said.
“The numbers show that almost a million Russian soldiers have been killed. Some 700 000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. Russia is bigger, they have more soldiers to lose, but that is not the way to run a country,” he added.