US President-elect Donald Trump has unveiled plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin "very quickly" after being sworn in on January 20, he said in a Monday interview. He was interviewed by conservative news outlet Newsmax and was asked about specifics on his strategy to end the Ukraine war, to which Trump replied "there is only one strategy, and it’s up to Putin."
Trump explained, "I can’t imagine he's too thrilled with the way it’s gone, because it hasn’t gone exactly well for him either."
"I know he [Putin] wants to meet, and I'm going to meet very quickly," the president-elect said. "I would have done it sooner, but… you have to get into the office." These words came the day after Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), told ABC News that "the preparations are underway" for a meeting between Trump and the Russian leader.
"I do expect a call … at least in the coming days and weeks," Waltz said. "So, that would be a step, and we’ll take it from there."
Various reports in the last weeks have made clear that meeting with Putin and seeking a breakthrough toward Ukraine peace is Trump's biggest foreign policy priority at this point, though his eye is still on China as a top priority too:
Trump noted at the time he’s had "a lot of communication" with Chinese President Xi Jinping and has spoken with numerous other world leaders. But he has yet to speak with Putin.
"But President Putin wants to meet. He’s said that even publicly, and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess," Trump said of the war in Ukraine.
Kremlin statements issued in the past days have reaffirmed openness to such a meeting, "but that any concrete steps to set up such talks could be made only once Mr. Trump is sworn into office on Jan. 20," The New York Times recently noted.
"We need a mutual desire and political willingness to engage in a dialogue," Putin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters last Friday. "We see that Mr. Trump also declares his readiness to solve issues via dialogue. We welcome that."
Peskov added that Russia's understanding is that there is a "mutual readiness for a meeting" but that "it looks like things will start to move after Trump enters the Oval Office."
Prior reporting on the 'Trump peace plan' suggests that the US side will offer Ukraine a twenty-year waiting period before it can hope to join NATO; however, Moscow has rejected even this possibility as a non-starter.
Without doubt, Moscow sees itself in the driver's seat - even as Ukraine tries to inflict as much damage as possible through drone and missile strikes on Russian territory. Russian forces have made weeks of rapid gains in the Donetsk, including having captured another key industrial town just this past week.