Putin sweet talks Trump as he declares Russia open to negotiations on Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has expressed his wish to talk “calmly” to US President Donald Trump about ending the war in Ukraine, downplaying Trump’s recent economic threats and countering Trump's goal to end the war in a day.

In an interview on Russian state TV, Putin said: “We believe the current President’s statements about his readiness to work together. We are always open to this and ready for negotiations.”

“It would be better for us to meet, based on the realities of today, to talk calmly,” he added.

Putin also used the interview to butter up Trump by calling him “smart” and “pragmatic", adding that he doubted he would do anything to hurt Russia that would have repercussions on the US economy.

Putin was referring to Trump’s recent threats to dial up sanctions and tariffs if Putin was not prepared to end the war with Ukraine.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump had proposed driving down oil prices as a way to attack Moscow’s source of revenue.

“Right now the price is high enough that that war will continue,” he told his audience, according to The Guardian.

But Putin hit back by pointing out that “excessively” low oil prices would also not be good for the United States.

Trump, who has long boasted he would end the war on his first day in office, had earlier written on his social media platform Truth Social: “Settle now and stop this ridiculous war. It’s only going to get worse.”

“If we don’t make a 'deal' soon, I have no other choice but to put high levels of taxes, tariffs and sanctions on anything being sold by Russia to the United States and various other participating countries,” he added.

In a move that seemed designed to soft-soap Trump, Putin has also reiterated some of Trump’s false claims, such as the war would never have started if former president Joe Biden hadn’t stolen the election from him in 2020.

“I’ve always had a businesslike, pragmatic and even trusting relationship with the current president,” Putin said in the Moscow Times.

“And I can’t help but agree that if his victory hadn’t been stolen in 2020, the crisis in Ukraine might not have emerged in 2022,” he added, referring to his invasion of his neighbor.

But, despite Putin’s readiness to engage in negotiations with Trump, Kyiv is far from thrilled by the idea, given neither Ukraine nor Europe would be involved.

"He (Putin) wants to negotiate the fate of Europe – without Europe. And he wants to talk about Ukraine without Ukraine," the head of Ukraine’s presidential office Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.

President Zelensky himself said on Friday, January 24, in his daily video that Putin was trying to “manipulate” Trump.

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