The Kremlin has said a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin, US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would only take place at the conclusion of negotiations, when the leaders are ready to formally approve a comprehensive agreement.
Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the proposed three-way summit should not be viewed as an opportunity for the presidents to negotiate the finer points of a settlement themselves.
Peskov Says Summit Must Produce Final Agreements
Peskov said calls for a trilateral meeting involving Putin, Trump and Zelenskyy have existed for some time. However, he emphasized that Moscow’s position remains that such a gathering would only be meaningful if it were convened to formalize agreements already reached through negotiations.
He described the prospective settlement as a complex peace-making process involving numerous issues and details, rather than a straightforward political deal.
Kremlin Rules Out Using Summit for Detailed Negotiations
According to Peskov, it would be ineffective for the three leaders to meet simply to work through the numerous technical and political questions involved in resolving the conflict.
Instead, he said, negotiations should address those matters before the presidents meet. The summit, under Moscow’s preferred framework, would then serve as the occasion to finalize and formally endorse the resulting agreements.
Moscow Accuses Kyiv of Reluctance
Peskov also claimed that the Ukrainian side has been reluctant to participate in efforts aimed at resolving the conflict.
The Kremlin spokesman did not provide additional details to substantiate the allegation, but his comments indicate that Moscow continues to view progress in negotiations as a prerequisite for any eventual meeting between the three leaders.
Report Links CIA Chief’s Moscow Visit to Summit Proposal
The comments came after Axios reported that CIA Director John Ratcliffe had raised the possibility of a trilateral Putin-Trump-Zelenskyy meeting during a visit to Moscow.
Ratcliffe traveled to the Russian capital on August 25, according to the report. His visit has drawn attention because direct contacts between senior US and Russian officials have remained an important channel amid efforts to address the conflict.
Moscow Confirms Intelligence Contacts
Peskov said Ratcliffe’s visit was connected to contacts between the Russian and US intelligence services. Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergey Naryshkin separately confirmed that he met with the CIA director during his time in Moscow.
The Kremlin’s latest comments suggest that, while high-level communication between Washington and Moscow is continuing, Russia does not currently view a leaders’ summit as a venue for opening-ended negotiations. Instead, Moscow says such a meeting should come only after negotiators have resolved the major outstanding issues and prepared agreements for the presidents to formally approve.
