There are hopes of a meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin as Russia and the United States discussed the possibility of elections in Ukraine during high-level talks in Riyadh.
Russia’s news agency reported that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov exchanged views on the matter during their meeting on Tuesday.
“Of course, a decision on this cannot be made in Moscow or Washington,” Peskov stated.
Moscow has repeatedly portrayed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as illegitimate and is pushing for elections that could see him replaced.
However, Ukraine has been under martial law since Russia’s invasion, cancelling regular elections and restricting political activity. Many Ukrainians agree that holding elections during active warfare is unfeasible, with soldiers and refugees unable to participate.
For Russia, framing elections as a necessary step could serve as a tool to convince the Trump administration that Zelensky should not be part of any negotiations to end the war.
Russian President Vladimir Putin remains in power through increasingly controlled elections, while Trump has recently taken positions favourable to Moscow’s war stance, including opposing Ukraine’s NATO membership and rejecting a return to its pre-2014 borders.
NAN
