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Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a trilateral meeting next month with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the war in Ukraine and seek an end to the conflict on terms favourable to Moscow, Anadolu Agency reported, citing “The Wall Street Journal”.
Putin raised the proposal during a phone call with Trump on October 9, according to a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter, the newspaper reported.
The call also led to an agreement for the United States to buy Russian diesel fuel and help sell it on the global market, the report said.
APEC summit proposed as venue
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that discussions were under way about a possible meeting. He said there was “no clear understanding yet regarding the meeting itself or its potential agenda”, but that all three parties recognised the hypothetical possibility of holding one.
A senior US official said Trump had not agreed to the proposed summit but might be open to the idea because he wants to fulfil his campaign pledge to end the war.
People familiar with the discussions said the Kremlin had proposed holding the meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for November 18-19 in Shenzhen, China.
Russian officials raised the proposal with Beijing through diplomatic channels. China indicated it would not oppose the idea if Trump agreed, according to people familiar with recent discussions between Moscow and Beijing.
The former Russian intelligence officer said Putin had proposed a trilateral summit with Trump and Xi several times before.
Fuel deal and competing priorities
Trump recently reached a deal with Putin to buy Russian diesel fuel in an effort to reduce fuel prices, which have weighed on the US economy and hurt Republican prospects ahead of midterm elections.
On Friday, Trump also suspended the implementation of sanctions against Russia under a bipartisan bill he signed last month.
The former intelligence officer said Putin had ambitious, though potentially unrealistic, aims for the trilateral format, envisioning it as a second Yalta summit that would divide the world into spheres of influence.
Some people familiar with the discussions said Chinese officials were concerned that such a geopolitical sideshow could overshadow Beijing’s plans to use the APEC summit to highlight China’s role in the region.
Xi is seeking to balance continued support for Putin with the need to maintain China’s economic ties with Europe, the people said.
