Putin Proposes Trilateral Meeting with Trump and Xi over the Ukraine War
Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a trilateral meeting with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss the Ukraine war and find a way to end the conflict on terms favourable to Moscow. The meeting has been proposed for next month.
According to a report by the US newspaper The Wall Street Journal, Putin raised the proposal during a phone call with Trump on 9 October. The information came from a former Russian intelligence officer familiar with the matter.
The report also said that a deal was finalised through that same phone call. Under the deal, the United States will buy diesel fuel from Russia and help sell it on the international market.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that talks about the possible meeting are under way. He told the Wall Street Journal that there is still no specific clarity about the meeting or its possible agenda, but that all three sides have in principle accepted the possibility of such a meeting taking place.
A senior US official said Trump has not agreed to the proposed summit. However, driven by his election promise to stop the war, he may eventually warm to the idea.
According to people familiar with the discussions, the Kremlin has proposed holding the trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, scheduled for 18-19 November in Shenzhen, China.
People familiar with recent Moscow-Beijing discussions said Russian officials raised the proposal with Beijing through diplomatic channels. In response, China indicated that it would have no objection to the proposal if Trump agrees.
The former Russian intelligence officer said Putin had previously proposed a trilateral summit with Trump and Xi Jinping on several occasions. The new proposal is therefore a continuation of his earlier position.
Trump recently struck a deal with Putin to buy Russian diesel in an effort to bring down fuel prices in the US market. Rising fuel prices were putting pressure on the US economy and politically damaging the Republicans ahead of the midterm elections.
In addition, despite signing a bipartisan bill last month, Trump last Friday suspended the implementation of new sanctions against Russia — seen as another sign of his flexible stance toward Moscow.
The former intelligence officer added that Putin's plan is quite grand, even if it may seem somewhat unrealistic to implement. He sees this trilateral framework as similar to the historic Yalta Conference, which divided the world into spheres of influence of different countries.
Meanwhile, several people familiar with the talks said Chinese officials fear the geopolitical issue could overshadow the main summit, even though China had wanted to use the APEC summit to showcase its leadership role in the region. In their view, Xi Jinping wants to maintain a balance between continuing to support Putin and preserving China's economic relationship with Europe.
