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. The former Russian intelligence officer cited by the WSJ said Putin viewed the proposed format as a potential modern equivalent of the 1945 Yalta conference, where Allied leaders discussed the post-war order. 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.
Because ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders would be excluded from discussions about the conflict, the proposed format has raised concerns. For Putin, the summit would reinforce Russia’s status as a major global power while limiting Europe ‘s influence over negotiations.
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. “China wants to be seen as the pivot of the great powers, and potentially as a mediator between the U.S. and Russia,” Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, said.
Washington has also paused the implementation of sanctions that were to be imposed under a bipartisan bill Trump signed last month. The call also produced an arrangement involving US purchases of Russian diesel fuel and efforts to facilitate its sale on international markets. The decision drew criticism from lawmakers, including some of the president’s allies.
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.
