Putin, Trump meeting to be held as early as next week

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he hopes for a presidential summit with US President Donald Trump as early as next week, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerging as a potential venue.

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov confirmed that Moscow and Washington have agreed to hold the presidential meeting in the coming days, with the US side having initiated the push for the high-level bilateral talks.

He echoed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's view that the two leaders now have substantial ground to cover in their talks.

Putin said that Russia has many friends who are ready to help organize his meeting with the American colleague. One of those friends is UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, he said.

The New York Times previously reported that Trump intends to meet in person with Putin as early as next week, with plans to follow shortly afterward with a trilateral meeting involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Plans for the face-to-face meeting between the two leaders originally surfaced after Putin's three-hour working meeting with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday.

During a call with European leaders on Wednesday, Trump reportedly said the meetings would include only himself, Putin and Zelensky, excluding any European counterparts.

Asked about the prospect of meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Putin said that the conditions for a possible meeting with Zelensky are still far from being created. "Unfortunately, we are still a long way from creating the necessary conditions," Putin told the press.

Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who greeted Witkoff at the airport, said that the Putin-Trump meeting would reinvigorate Russia-US engagement, stressing that the dialogue allows Russia to articulate its positions with clarity.

Dmitriev, who also serves as the special envoy of the president of Russia for investment and economic cooperation, said that the talks provide an opportunity to convey to US partners that "Russia's economic growth has significantly outpaced the virtual stagnation plaguing the UK and EU economies."

"We see vast potential for mutually beneficial collaboration, including with US investors in Arctic projects, rare earth metals, and infrastructure development," he said.

Reviving Russia-US dialogue would benefit both Russian enterprises and US investors seeking access to the Russian market, he said.