Putin-Trump meeting essential but needs preparation and must yield results: Kremlin

The Kremlin said on Friday a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump was essential, but required considerable advance preparation and had to yield results when it happened.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was commenting after Trump said he would meet Putin “as soon as we can set it up”.

“Such a meeting is certainly necessary. It is necessary primarily from the point of view of bilateral Russian-US relations and from the point of view of having a serious conversation at the highest level about international affairs and on regional problems, including, of course, about the crisis over Ukraine,” Peskov said.

Russian and Ukrainian negotiators were in Istanbul, Turkey on Friday for what was billed as their first direct peace talks in more than three years, under pressure from Trump to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War 2.

Commenting on the Istanbul talks, Peskov said the Russian negotiating team was in constant communication with Moscow and Putin was receiving real-time updates.

Reuters