'I will be ready': Putin says he will meet Trump
Putin speaks out on his relationship with Trump claiming he hasn't 'spoken to him at all in over four years', as ITV News' Sam Holder reports
The Russian president made the comments during an annual news conference on Thursday, in which he participates in a public Q&A session to show his sweeping control of all aspects of the country.
“You asked what we can offer, or what I can offer to the newly elected President Trump when we meet,” Putin said.
“First of all, I don’t know when we will meet. Because he hasn’t said anything about it. I haven’t spoken to him at all in over four years. Of course, I am ready for this at any time, and I will be ready for a meeting if he wants it.”
Asked whether Russia would be in a weaker negotiating position because of recent setbacks in the Middle East and on the battlefield in Ukraine, Putin replied: “I believe that Russia has become much stronger over the past two or three years.
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"Why? Because we are becoming a truly sovereign country, we are already hardly dependent on anyone.”
Trump has denied having multiple calls with Putin since leaving office, contradicting a report by veteran journalist Bob Woodward in a recent book that the pair had held “maybe as many as seven” conversations since 2021.
In response to a question on how Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was going, Putin said the “situation is changing dramatically,” as the war approaches its third year.
“Movement is going on along the entire front line, every day.”
He continued: “And as I already said, we are not talking about advancing 100-200-300 meters. Our fighters are taking and returning territory in square kilometers. I want to emphasise - every day.”
His answer comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged that Ukraine lacks the strength to take back all its territory occupied by Russia.
Russian forces failed to capture the capital Kyiv in the early weeks of the war, but the war in the east of Ukraine has turned into a costly and brutal war of attrition.
Ukrainian forces remain in the Kursk region but have slowly ceded ground to Russian forces there. Kyiv has said North Korean troops fighting alongside Russian troops there have suffered heavy losses.
Also during the conference, Putin made his first comments since the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Al-Assad and his family have since sought refuge in Moscow.
“I haven’t met with President Assad since his arrival in Moscow, but I plan to do so, I will definitely talk to him,” Putin said.
The annual event allows citizens and journalists to ask the Russian president questions directly, providing a glimpse into Putin’s views on critical matters, and gives the Kremlin leader a platform to showcase his main talking points and address both domestic and international issues.
The marathon sessions in the past have lasted well over four hours.
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