It’s Jakub Krupa here, taking over from Charlie Moloney.
Good morning/afternoon, depending where you are.
As we’ve been reporting, the Kremlin has yet to publicly confirm that Putin has agreed to meet Zelenskyy face-to-face. Without confirming whether planning has begun for a summit, the Kremlin issued only a vague statement that it was “considering the possibility” of holding high-level “direct talks” with Ukraine following Trump’s phone call with Putin yesterday.
According to the Moscow Times, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said today that Putin is open to it (the Russian president has previously outright rejected talks with Zelenskyy), but Lavrov also stressed that preparations for high-level summits take time. He told state broadcaster Russia 24:
We’re not refusing any kind of work format, neither bilateral nor trilateral. The president [Putin] has said that repeatedly … Any contacts involving top leaders must be prepared with the utmost care.
Despite European leaders’ optimistic suggestions yesterday that the meeting could take place within a fortnight, Moscow’s language appears to signal that it’s stalling on anything concrete for the proposed bilateral meeting.
Updated
