Putin floats trilateral summit with Trump and Xi to discuss Ukraine deal

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed that he, US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet next month to negotiate an end to the Ukraine war in a way that would favour Moscow, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the discussions.

Putin floated the idea during an October 9 phone call with Trump, according to a former Russian intelligence officer briefed on the matter. The same conversation produced a deal for the United States to buy Russian diesel fuel and facilitate its sale on the global market.

Such a summit — one without the involvement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy — would be unprecedented and “send alarm bells ringing in European capitals and beyond,” the Journal reports. The Kremlin has suggested holding the trilateral dialogue on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which takes place on November 18 and 19 in Shenzhen, China.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that discussions were taking place over a potential meeting. “There is no clear understanding yet regarding the meeting itself or its potential agenda, although all three parties acknowledge the hypothetical possibility of such a meeting taking place,” he told the Journal.

A senior US official said Trump had not agreed to the summit but could be receptive, given his desire to fulfil a campaign promise to settle the war. Trump said on Sunday, in a social-media post, that he was holding off on imposing sanctions because he did not want to “drive, foolishly, Russia away from the bargaining table.”

The White House declined to comment on the proposal, and the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.