The Kremlin said today that there was mutual agreement on the need for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but the details have not yet been specified, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that during talks in Riyadh this week, the two sides had agreed that the two leaders should meet, but "there are no details yet". He noted that the two leaders had stated that they were ready to speak in person.
"There is a desire on the part of the two presidents and there are instructions to organize this meeting in such a way that it is as productive as possible. "All the details will be clarified during the preparations," he added.
After the meeting in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Trump said he would most likely meet with Putin by the end of the month. The Russian president said on Wednesday that the meeting must be carefully prepared in order to achieve results.
Yesterday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that a possible meeting between Putin and Trump largely depended on whether progress could be made to stop the war in Ukraine, and that Trump wanted to know if Putin would take the issue seriously.
Peskov reiterated that the Russian leader was open to talks to end the conflict.
"We have our goals related to national security, to our national interests, and we are ready to achieve these goals through peaceful negotiations," he said.
He rejected the information in the "Financial Times" (FT) that at the talks in Riyadh, Russia demanded the withdrawal of NATO forces from Eastern Europe - something it had wanted in talks with the US before the war began.
Asked about this important milestone, Peskov said it was too early to sum up the results of the special military operation, as Russia calls it.
"The special military operation continues. All the goals set by the head of state and the supreme commander must be achieved," he said.