ISTANBUL
The Kremlin said Monday that Moscow is interested in a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump “sooner rather than later."
During a press briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that such a meeting is possible only after thorough preparations and that Russia hopes the summit will take place once conditions are in place.
He went on say that despite this, it is currently difficult to predict when these conditions will be met.
"Although, of course, we are all interested in these conditions being fulfilled sooner rather than later," Peskov added.
Despite mediation from Trump, peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv to end the more than three-and-a-half-year Russia-Ukraine war have largely stalled, with both sides blaming each other for delays in the negotiations.
The two presidents last met in August in Alaska, while a planned Budapest summit on the ongoing conflict was cancelled last month, with Trump saying he did not want a "wasted meeting."
Prisoner swaps
Peskov also touched on the issue of prisoner exchanges between Moscow and Kyiv, saying expert groups from both countries are cooperating on the matter.
"There are indeed contacts at the expert level regarding prisoner exchanges. Discussions are ongoing, but I won't give any specifics right now," he said.
On Saturday, Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council Secretary Rustem Umerov wrote on US social media company Facebook that he held consultations in Türkiye and the UAE, mediated by partners, on resuming prisoner swaps between Moscow and Kyiv.
"As a result of these negotiations, the parties agreed to activate the Istanbul arrangements. This concerns the release of 1,200 Ukrainians," Umerov wrote, adding that technical consultations will take place in the near future to finalize all procedural and organizational details.
Russia and Ukraine held three rounds of renewed peace talks in Istanbul — on May 16, June 2, and July 23 — resulting in major prisoner swaps and draft memoranda outlining respective positions for a future peace deal to end the conflict, which began in February 2022.