Kremlin Says Putin-Trump-Zelenskyy Summit Could Only Seal Existing Agreements

The Kremlin has drawn a narrow line around the idea of a three-way summit on Ukraine: Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could meet only to sign off on agreements already reached.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the comments while responding to an initiative from CIA Director John Ratcliffe for such a meeting. Peskov said Kyiv did not want to engage in a genuine settlement of the conflict.

He also rejected the idea that an agreement on Ukraine could amount to a simple deal. The process, he said, would involve a large number of details, making a “primitive deal” impossible.

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A summit is possible only to formalize the agreements already reached on resolving the conflict.

The summit proposal emerged during Ratcliffe’s unexpected visit to Russia on Aug. 25. He met Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, and FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov. The meetings focused on whether Russia’s security services could persuade Putin to resume negotiations with Ukraine through U.S. mediation.

Zelenskyy said in his messenger account that he had received information from the U.S. side about the meetings in Moscow. Peskov’s remarks nevertheless presented a summit as the final stage of an agreement, rather than a forum where the leaders would negotiate its main terms.

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The agreements on Ukraine cannot be a primitive deal.