During a press briefing on Thursday, President Trump said he wasn’t at all shocked that Russian President Vladimir Putin opted out of participating in peace negotiations with Ukraine. He made clear that meaningful progress wouldn’t occur until he met personally with Putin.
“Look, nothing’s going to happen until Putin and I get together. Okay?” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, dismissing the significance of the upcoming talks.
Trump had previously encouraged a direct meeting between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey, but reacted casually to the news that Putin would not be attending.
“And obviously, he wasn’t going to go. He was going to go — but he thought I was going to go. He wasn’t going if I wasn’t there,” Trump said, implying Putin’s attendance hinged on his own presence.
He went on to stress that no meaningful agreement would materialize until he and Putin met face-to-face.
“And I don’t believe anything’s going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together. But we’re going to have to get it solved because too many people are dying,” Trump added.
When asked about Putin choosing to send a group of lower-ranking officials to the summit instead of attending himself, Trump brushed it off.
“I’m not disappointed in anything,” he said.
“Why would I be disappointed? We just took in $4 trillion and he says ‘are you disappointed about a delegation?’” Trump added, pointing to the economic deals announced during his visit to the Middle East.
Earlier in the day, Trump said he might consider flying to Istanbul if it seemed like meaningful progress was being made between the Russian and Ukrainian teams.
“If something happened I would go on Friday if it was appropriate,” Trump said in Qatar after a business meeting.
He also noted that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was already in Istanbul representing the U.S. at the discussions.
Putin’s absence raised questions about the future of the talks, which were set to be the first high-level engagement between the two sides in quite some time.
While the Kremlin confirmed that a Russian delegation was in attendance and open to negotiations with Ukraine, Putin himself had not planned to appear.
When asked whether Putin would attend if Trump were present, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded that it was too early to tell how things would unfold.
“It is premature to say what kind of participation will be required and at what level because we do not know if the Ukrainian negotiators will show up or not and how the negotiations will go,” said Peskov.
Zelensky, for his part, criticized the Russian delegation, downplaying its significance.
“We need to understand what kind of level the Russian delegation is, and what mandate they have and whether they can make any decisions,” Zelensky told reporters after landing in Ankara.
When asked what he would say to Putin if given the chance, Zelensky replied: “I’m here. I think this is a clear message.”
This attempt at resuming direct dialogue between the two leaders comes amid increasing international pressure to secure a ceasefire and finally bring an end to the conflict, now approaching its third year.
{Matzav.com}