\n
![](\"https:\/\/en.hamsonews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/5342663.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he is ready to discuss the war in Ukraine with President Donald Trump and suggested it would be a good idea for them to meet, the Guardian reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
In his first comments since Trump issued threats to inflict economic damage on Russia if it failed to end the war in\u00a0Ukraine, Putin struck a favorable tone towards the US president.<\/p>\n
Putin told a Russian state TV journalist: \u201cWe believe the current president\u2019s statements about his readiness to work together. We are always open to this and ready for negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be better for us to meet, based on the realities of today, to talk calmly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Putin went on to describe his relationship with Trump as \u201cbusinesslike, pragmatic and trustworthy\u201d.<\/p>\n
Putin also said that the question of negotiating with Ukraine was complicated by the fact that its president,\u00a0Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had signed a decree preventing him from conducting talks with Putin.<\/p>\n
In what seems to be an effort to court Trump\u2019s favor, Putin echoed the US president\u2019s claim that he would have prevented the war in Ukraine in 2022, also parroting Trump\u2019s debunked assertion that the US elections had been \u201cstolen\u201d from him.<\/p>\n
In the first days since his inauguration, Trump has repeatedly called for a swift resolution to the war in Ukraine, now nearing its third year, and has expressed his readiness to meet Putin \u201cimmediately\u201d.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s initial attempts to persuade Putin to negotiate have been reinforced by threats to escalate pressure on Russia\u2019s already strained economy, including the introduction of sanctions and tariffs, if Moscow fails to \u201cmake a deal\u201d to end the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday evening, Trump also called on OPEC to push down global oil prices to hit a vital stream of revenue for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now the price is high enough that that war will continue,\u201d he said, noting that the high oil price was helping to sustain Putin\u2019s war efforts.<\/p>\n
Oil and gas revenues have been the most important source of cash for the Kremlin, accounting for about a third to a half of total federal budget proceeds over the past decade.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Putin downplayed Trump\u2019s economic threats, saying that \u201cexcessively\u201d low oil prices were bad for both the US and Russian economies.<\/p>\n
A source in the Russian foreign policy establishment said: \u201cPutin does not like public threats. He wants to be spoken to as an equal. It is clear that any deal will take some time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some observers believe that the Russian leader may view Trump\u2019s economic warning with skepticism.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n