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Russian President Vladimir Putin could meet with former U.S. President Donald Trump sometime in February or March, a senior Russian lawmaker said Thursday.
Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the State Duma’s International Affairs Committee, told reporters that preparations for the summit were at an “advanced stage.”
“Whether it’s February or March, let’s not speculate — let the leaders competently and comprehensively prepare for it,” Slutsky said, adding that more details on the meeting would “appear soon.”
The Kremlin confirmed Wednesday that Russian officials had recently “intensified” contacts with members of Trump’s administration. Trump said Sunday that White House officials were in talks with Russian authorities about ending the war in Ukraine but declined to say whether he had personally spoken to Putin.
Putin said last month that he was ready to meet with Trump to discuss the Ukraine war and other “areas of interest to both the U.S. and Russia.”
“The meeting may cover the most pressing issues in world politics — Ukraine, the Middle East, and the future of the international order,” Slutsky, a member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters.
Slutsky’s comments followed a closed-door briefing by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the State Duma, according to Kremlin-aligned Telegram channels.
