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Preparations have begun for a first-ever trilateral summit of Russian President Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yury Ushakov said Sunday.
Moscow, Beijing and Washington are ready in principle to hold the Putin-Xi-Trump summit, Ushakov told Pavel Zarubin of Russian state broadcaster VGTRK, adding that Russia is also ready to resume Ukraine talks with the U.S. and Kyiv after Nov. 4.
"I can say for certain now that Moscow, Beijing and Washington are in principle ready to hold it, and preparations have already begun," Ushakov said.
He said Chinese colleagues had approached the talks very seriously, according to Vesti.
Ushakov said Wednesday that the aim was to include the meeting in the program of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, China, set for Nov. 18-19.
Russia and the U.S. have not yet agreed on a separate Putin-Trump meeting there, Ushakov said, but one is possible.
"We have not agreed on this meeting yet, because so far we have been talking about this trilateral contact," he said, adding, "If two presidents are in the same place, they will at least greet each other, talk while sitting at a table, talk during protocol events. Such large international summits open up great opportunities for communication."
Asked whether Shenzhen’s outcome would affect Russia’s participation in the G20 summit in Miami in December, Ushakov said: "Naturally. But I am saying that November comes first, and then December."
"In the U.S., you know, the general political backdrop is extremely unfavorable to Russia. But there is the Trump administration, which is trying to take into account its national interests, which boil down to the fact that Russia cannot be ignored and it is better to interact with Russia," he said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said earlier that a meeting of leaders of Russia, the U.S., and China would be an extremely important event, but that talk of the fate of the world being decided there does not match Putin’s position.
Trump said Monday he is open to three-way arms-control talks as soon as next month.
"We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearization,” he said, adding, "If President Xi wants to have it, I’d have it. I’m sure we’d talk about other things like trade too."
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called a potential summit "a very positive thing for the world."
"I think the world is a safer place when the leaders of the most powerful nuclear arsenals in the world are at least communicating with one another," Rubio told reporters in India.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Putin proposed the meeting during an Oct. 9 phone call with Trump to discuss ending the war in Ukraine.
Peskov said Monday the subject of "such a hypothetical meeting was indeed raised," but "no specific proposals or agreements were discussed or put forward by anyone, either regarding the meeting itself or the possible agenda and content of that meeting."
Ushakov said Russia is ready to resume negotiations in the Russia-U.S.-Ukraine format after National Unity Day on Nov. 4.
"Now the next deadline is Nov. 4, our big holiday. After that, we will be ready to resume negotiations," he said, adding, "One cannot resolve much at the first meeting. It will probably be of an exploratory nature."
"It is not enough to talk only to Kyiv, we must talk to the whole of Europe, which fully supports Kyiv," he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv must be represented if Ukraine is discussed.
"I don’t know what the trilateral meeting will be about between America and China, and Russia, it’s up to them. But of course, if there are issues about Ukraine, our future, it can be acceptable only when we are at the table of negotiations. It’s absolutely clear," Zelenskyy said in Oslo.
"A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Ukraine, the U.S., and Russia could help end the war sooner. A trilateral meeting between the leaders of Russia, China, and the U.S. would do only the opposite: encourage Putin to continue this war," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
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