The Kremlin announced on Monday that Russia and the United States are exploring ideas for a possible peace settlement in Ukraine and ways to strengthen bilateral relations. This comes despite US President Donald Trump saying that he was “pissed off” with Vladimir Putin.
Trump told NBC News he was very angry after the Russian leader criticised the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the US president suggested he could impose secondary tariffs of 25%-50% on buyers of Russian oil. However, Trump later added: “I think we are making progress, step by step.”
Asked about Trump’s comments, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was continuing to work with Washington and 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,” Peskov said.
“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.”
Trump on Sunday said he was “very angry” and “pissed off” at his Russian counterpart Putin for criticising the credibility of Zelenskyy’s leadership. Putin on Friday suggested a transitional government be in place in Ukraine, which could effectively see Zelenskyy being pushed out.
In an interview with NBC News, Trump threatened to impose up to a 50% tariff on Russian oil if Moscow was unable to make a deal with Kyiv to stop the three-year-old war in Ukraine. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault, I am going to put secondary tariffs on oil, on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said.
“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the US. There will be a 25 per cent tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil,” he said, in a sharp change of tone towards Moscow.
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