Putin offered Trump to meet and talk calmly

Russian President Vladimir Putin reminded on January 24 that he was ready to hold a meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump and discuss the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine and a number of other topics.

"It is better for us to meet, based on the realities of today, to talk calmly on all those areas that are of interest to both the United States and Russia. We are ready, but, I repeat, this primarily depends on the decisions and choices of the current American administration," Putin said in an interview with VGTRK journalist Pavel Zarubin, with the video published in the journalist's Telegram channel.

The Russian leader emphasized that Moscow and Washington have quite a lot of common topics and the parties should discuss solutions to key issues.

In addition, the head of state agreed with the US President's statement that if he had been in the shoes of his predecessor Joe Biden, there might not have been a conflict in Ukraine. However, the Russian president recalled that Trump had imposed many anti-Russian sanctions during his first term in office.

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The 47th president of the United States sees the Ukrainian crisis as an obstacle as well as a goal

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia considers US President Donald Trump's desire to establish direct communication with Moscow as commendable. He emphasized that if it was possible to return relations to a more normal state, it would be a significant achievement.

Prior to that, on January 23, Reuters reported that resident Trump said that he wanted to meet with Putin as soon as possible to put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, the US president expressed hope that his team was already making great efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. He promised to end the conflict but did not provide details.

On January 20, Trump was inaugurated, after which he reiterated that he plans to meet with Putin as soon as possible and discuss the conflict in Ukraine. In turn, the new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis a priority of the American President. According to him, "part of the preparatory work" has started.