Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a meeting with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month to discuss the Ukraine war, seeking a settlement favorable to Moscow as ties between Washington and the Kremlin show signs of warming, The Wall Street Journal reported .
The proposed trilateral summit could take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled for November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, China. Putin reportedly floated the proposal during a phone conversation with Trump on October 9, according to a former Russian intelligence officer cited by the WSJ. Because ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders would be excluded from discussions about the conflict, the proposed format has raised concerns.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed discussions about a possible meeting but said there was no clear agreement on its agenda or whether it would take place. Washington has also paused the implementation of sanctions that were to be imposed under a bipartisan bill Trump signed last month.
However, Trump has not agreed to the meeting, a senior US official told WSJ. A senior White House official told the WSJ that Trump made the decisions after seeing few other viable options to lower fuel prices. Energy experts cited by the newspaper, however, said the war involving Iran was the main driver of rising diesel prices and that additional Russian supplies were unlikely to significantly affect the market. People familiar with the discussions told the WSJ that China would not object if Trump agreed to participate.
The call also produced an arrangement involving US purchases of Russian diesel fuel and efforts to facilitate its sale on international markets. The proposal comes as US-led efforts to end the war remain largely stalled. Trump, who had promised to end the conflict on his first day back in office, has increasingly expressed frustration with Zelensky over Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure. The decision drew criticism from lawmakers, including some of the president’s allies. Russian officials have reportedly raised the proposal with Beijing through diplomatic channels.
