Preparations for Trump-Putin summit underway, says Russia

Preparations are underway for a face-to-face meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia's deputy foreign minister said on Feb. 22.

It marked a clear departure from Western efforts to isolate Moscow over its war in Ukraine.

Speaking to Russian state media, Sergei Ryabkov said a possible Putin-Trump summit could involve broad talks on global issues, not just the war in Ukraine.

“The question is about starting to move toward normalizing relations between our countries, finding ways to resolve the most acute and potentially very, very dangerous situations, of which there are many, Ukraine among them,” he said.

But he said efforts to organize such a meeting are at an early stage, and that making it happen will require “the most intensive preparatory work."

Ryabkov added that U.S. and Russian envoys could meet within the next two weeks to pave the way for further talks among senior officials.

Russian and U.S. representatives meeting in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 18 agreed to start working toward ending the war in Ukraine and improving their diplomatic and economic ties, an extraordinary about-face in U.S. foreign policy under Trump.

Senior U.S. officials have suggested Ukraine will have to give up its goals of joining NATO and retaining the 20 percent of its territory seized by Russia.

After the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Associated Press the two sides agreed broadly to pursue three goals: to restore staffing at their respective embassies; to create a high-level team to support Ukraine peace talks; and to explore closer relations and economic cooperation.

He stressed, however, that the talks, which were attended by his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, and other senior Russian and U.S. official, marked the beginning of a conversation, and more work needs to be done.

Lavrov, for his part, hailed the meeting as “very useful.”

No Ukrainian officials were present at the Saudi meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not accept any outcome from the talks since Kiev didn’t take part.

European allies have also expressed concerns that they are being sidelined.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet Trump separately at the White House this week to try to convince him to stick by Kiev.

Fears are growing in European capitals that the bond forged from the ruins of World War II is on the verge of collapse as Trump pursues talks with Putin.