WSJ reported on China's initiative to host a summit of U.S. and Russian leaders

Chinese officials have sent a proposal to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump to hold a summit of the leaders of the United States and Russia in the country. This was reported by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on February 12, citing sources.

"While the U.S. leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin have signaled they are ready to begin talks on ending the conflict in Ukraine, China is eager to play a role. Chinese officials in recent weeks through intermediaries have sent the Trump team a proposal for a summit between the two leaders," the publication writes.

It is noted that China is also going to promote peacekeeping efforts of the countries after a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. However, according to the newspaper, Washington will be skeptical of Beijing's proposal because of the country's "close ties" with Moscow.

Sense of contact: Putin and Trump agree on diplomatic solution to Ukraine crisis

In an hour and a half, they also discussed prisoner exchanges, the situation in the Middle East and the Iran nuclear deal

Earlier, on February 12, Trump said he planned to meet with the Russian head of state in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, as indicated by the American president, the meeting has not yet been scheduled. He also said that he expects to meet with Putin on the territory of Russia and the United States.

On the same day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Trump discussed many topics in a telephone conversation, such as the exchange of Russian and US citizens, the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict and the situation in the Middle East. The two presidents agreed that it is possible to achieve long-term peace in Ukraine only through peaceful negotiations. The Russian leader in his conversation with his US counterpart emphasized that the root causes of the conflict should be eliminated.

Trump, in turn, shared that he is united with Putin in the opinion that Washington and Moscow can get great benefits from working together. The American leader called the conversation productive and expressed hope that the dialog on the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict will be successful.

Prior to that, on February 11, the US president gave an interview to Fox News TV channel, where he said that his team had close contacts with representatives of Russia and Ukraine, which helped to achieve significant progress in working towards a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis.

The last round of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place on March 29, 2022 in Istanbul. They lasted about three hours. Later, Kiev officially refused contacts with Moscow. On October 4, 2022, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (his term of office expired on May 20, 2024) introduced a decision of the country's National Security and Defense Council on the impossibility of holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.