Olusegun Ariyo
The Kremlin on Monday said that Russia and the United States are working on ideas for a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and on building bilateral ties despite US President Donald Trump saying he was pissed off with Vladimir Putin.
Urban Express News Online reports that Trump said he was very angry after the Russian leader criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
This was as he suggested he could impose secondary tariffs of 25%-50% on buyers of Russian oil.
The US president later reiterated that he was disappointed with Putin, saying , “I think we are making progress, step by step.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was continuing to work with Washington, stating that Putin remained open to contacts with Trump.
“We are continuing to work with the American side, first of all to build our bilateral relations, which were badly damaged during the previous (US) administration.
“And we are also working on the implementation of some ideas related to the Ukrainian settlement. This work is underway, but so far, there are no specifics that we could or should tell you about. This is a time-consuming process, probably due to its complexity,” Peskov said.
Trump, who says he wants to be remembered as a peacemaker, has repeatedly said he wants the three-year conflict in Ukraine to end and has warned of the risks of it escalating into a world war between the United States and Russia.
Finland’s President Alexander Stubb said on Sunday he had told US President Donald Trump during a Florida meeting on Saturday that a deadline needs to be set for establishing a Ukraine ceasefire to make it happen.
“I came out with an impression that he’s the only person who can broker a peace, a ceasefire, because he’s the only one that Putin is afraid of and in that sense, respects,” Stubb said.
