THE Kremlin said on Monday that Russia and the United States (US) were exploring ideas for striking a peace deal in Ukraine following President Donald Trump’s expressing frustration with Vladimir Putin.
The ICIR reported on Sunday, March 30, that Trump told NBC News he was furious after the Russian leader questioned the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, threatening to impose secondary tariffs of between 25 and 50 per cent on buyers of Russian oil.
Trump, who said he wanted to be remembered as a peacemaker, has consistently expressed his desire to end the three-year conflict in Ukraine and has warned of its potential escalation into a global war.
Addressing reporters at the White House on Monday, Trump reiterated that he would impose secondary tariffs if Putin refused to cooperate.
“I want to see him make a deal so that we stop Russian soldiers and Ukrainian soldiers and other people from being killed,” Trump said in the Oval Office, adding, “I want to make sure that he follows through, and I think he will.”
Responding to Trump’s remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow continued to engage with Washington and that Putin remained open to contacts with Trump.
“We are continuing to work with the American side, first of all, to build our bilateral relations, which were badly damaged during the previous (US) administration,” Peskov said.
He added, “And we are also working on the implementation of some ideas related to the Ukrainian settlement. This work is underway, but so far, there are no specifics that we could or should tell you about. This is a time-consuming process, probably due to its complexity.”
He said that a call between Trump and Putin could be arranged on short notice if needed, though none was planned for this week.
The ICIR reports that on Sunday, Finland’s President, Alexander Stubb, said he told Trump during their meeting in Florida a day earlier that setting a deadline was essential for achieving a Ukraine ceasefire.
“I came out with an impression that obviously he’s the only person who can broker a peace, a ceasefire, because he’s the only one that Putin is afraid of and in that sense, respects,” Stubb told Sky News in an interview on Monday.
“We were talking a lot about the ceasefire, the frustrations he had that Russia was not committing to it,” he stressed.
The ICIR reports that since assuming office in January, Trump’s policy towards Russia has been more of conciliatory, which has left Western allies wary as he seeks an end to the country’s three-year conflict with Ukraine.
His comments about Putin on Sunday reflected his growing frustration over the lack of Russia’s commitment to the ceasefire.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues.