Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to speak with his US counterpart Donald Trump but is waiting for indications from Washington first, the Kremlin said on Friday.
The Ukraine crisis has brought relations between the two nuclear powers to their lowest point since the Cold War, with Trump frequently vowing to terminate the bloodshed with a “deal”.
Trump told reporters on Thursday he would meet Putin “immediately”, and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wanted to negotiate.
Trump has threatened Russia with tougher economic sanctions if it does not agree to end its nearly three-year offensive.
“If they don’t settle this war soon, like almost immediately, I’m going to put massive tariffs on Russia, and massive taxes, and also big sanctions,” the Republican said during a Fox News interview on Thursday.
The Kremlin rejected Trump’s claim that the conflict in Ukraine could be ended by lowering the price of oil used to fund Moscow’s budget, saying: “This conflict does not depend on oil prices.”
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday, Trump had said that he would ask Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices, saying: “If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately.”
Peskov said the conflict was instead based on “threats to Russia’s national security”, “threats to Russians” living in Ukraine and “the lack of desire and complete refusal of Americans and Europeans to listen to Russia’s concerns”.
Neither side has shown signs of de-escalating hostilities since Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
Russian aerial attacks near Kyiv killed three people and wounded several others, Ukrainian officials said Friday, while Ukraine fired 120 drones at at least 12 Russian regions, including the capital Moscow.
The Kremlin has launched drone or missile attacks at Kyiv almost every day since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, ostensibly targeting military and energy facilities.
In Russia, the Ukrainian military said it launched an overnight drone attack striking an oil refinery, power station facilities and an electronics plant.
State media reported that a microelectronics factory had halted work after six Ukrainian drones damaged production and storage facilities in the Bryansk region.
