Donald Trump has again given Russian leader Vladimir Putin “a couple of weeks” to pursue peace talks with Ukraine, extending his self-imposed deadline for possible action against Moscow despite no sign that negotiations are moving forward.
Asked by CNN whether he might simply do nothing if Putin refused to engage, Trump replied: “We’ll see. I’ll see whose fault it is.
“But I’ll know in two weeks what I’m going to do,” Trump added, reviving a timeline he has repeatedly set for judging Putin’s willingness to end the war in Ukraine.
His latest remarks come as momentum around peace talks has stalled, with no indication that the bilateral meeting pressed for by the White House is imminent. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said earlier on Friday that no such meeting was planned.
After Trump met Putin in Alaska last week and hosted Volodymyr Zelensky alongside European leaders at the White House earlier this week, he had teased a possible bilateral meeting, potentially followed by a trilateral one with his own participation.
Trump reiterated his two-week timeframe several times. “We’ll see what happens. I think in two weeks we’ll know which way I’m going, because I’m going to go one way or the other, and they’ll learn which way.”
“He (Putin) has been very respectful of me and of our country, but not so respectful of others,” Trump added.
Putin on Friday described his recent meeting with Trump as “very good” and said Russia wanted an end to the fighting in Ukraine. However, he gave no indication of whether he would join talks with Zelensky.
He added that Russian and US agencies were continuing to communicate and said he expected a “full-scale restoration” of their relationship.
