OMM Newsroom
Preparations have begun for a trilateral summit involving Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said on Sunday, according to Anadolu Agency.
In an interview with Russian broadcaster VGTRK, Ushakov said the administrations of all three leaders were ready to hold the meeting. “Moscow, Beijing and Washington are in principle ready to hold it, and preparations have already begun,” he said.
Russia and the United States have not agreed on a bilateral meeting between Putin and Trump on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, scheduled for Nov. 18-19 in Shenzhen, China, Ushakov said. He added that such a meeting remained possible because a trilateral meeting involving Xi was being planned.
“We have not agreed on this meeting yet, because so far we have been talking about this trilateral contact,” Ushakov said. He noted that if the two presidents were in the same place, they could greet each other and talk at a table or during protocol events. Large international summits, he said, offered opportunities for communication.
Ushakov said Russia was currently focused on the November summit in Shenzhen and would consider the G20 summit in Miami later. Asked whether the success of the Shenzhen summit would affect Russia’s participation in the G20 summit in December, he replied: “Naturally. But I am saying that November comes first, and then December.”
He also said the Trump administration understood that Russia could not be ignored and that engagement with Moscow was preferable. While the broader political climate in the United States was “extremely unfavorable to Russia”, Ushakov said, the administration was seeking to take its national interests into account.
Russia says it is ready to resume Ukraine talks
On Ukraine, Ushakov said Russia was ready to resume negotiations in the Russia-US-Ukraine format after Nov. 4, Russia’s National Unity Day.
“Now the next deadline is Nov. 4, our big holiday. After that, we will be ready to resume negotiations,” he said.
Ushakov cautioned against expecting too much from the planned expert-level trilateral meeting, describing it as preliminary and likely to be exploratory. The sides still needed to work on a peace agreement, he said.
He added that after the Anchorage summit, the Kremlin had believed Washington could pressure Kyiv into compliance, but the effect had proved minimal.
Ushakov said dialogue with the European Union remained necessary because European countries were inclined to prolong the conflict. “It is not enough to talk only to Kyiv, we must talk to the whole of Europe, which fully supports Kyiv,” he said.
Separately, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on reports that Finnish President Alexander Stubb could be proposed as Europe’s negotiator with Russia on Ukraine. Moscow would support the appointment if the envoy sincerely sought a peaceful settlement, he said.
“If there is a negotiator, that is good. If it is a negotiator who sincerely strives to facilitate a peaceful settlement, that will be even better,” Peskov said.
